Inari Blessed
by Iris Evergreen
Summary: After an incident on his seventh birthday naruto is no longer the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Blessed by the fox god Inari, Naruto awakens the power of an extinct clan. With a guide sent by inari and a Hyuga without a byakugan as his teammates, the shinobi world is in for a surprise. Smart Naruto, good Kyuubi, slight bashing, YAOI KyuNaru.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello. This is my first Fanfiction so please forgive any idiotic mistakes.**

 **Reviews are appreciated.**

 **Also, i have yet to decide the pairing, but it might probably end up being yaoi. if anyone have any kind of aversion to such pairings don't bother reading only to criticize.**

 _ **WARNING: mentions of child abuse and attempted rape. nothing too graphic.**_

 _ **Disclaimer:I don't own any of the naruto charectors...**_

* * *

 _ **INARI BLESSED**_

 ** _CHAPTER 1_**

* * *

Michiko Masaru was a man without any aims.

He was an A class ninja, a seal master, one of Iwa's top nin. When he became a ninja it was to protect his village. Then his priorities changed with the arrival of his beautiful wife Kasumi. He loved her more than anything. She meant the world to him and that world was shattered by the one and only Minato Namikaze, the hailed yellow flash of Konoha.

She died along with his brother Masako, at the hands of the Namikaze.

He understands why the man did it. It was a war and he had to fight for his village. Masaru would've done the same in his place, but he couldn't help but resent the man. When the news of the man's death reached him, he unlike the rest of Iwa, didn't feel gleeful. Instead he felt oddly insignificant. His will to live had vanished; he wanted to kill Namikaze himself. He wanted to see Konoha fall because of himself. He couldn't live like this anymore, so he left Iwa and became a missing nin.

On the run, he visited many places fought many battles killed every Konoha nin he could but it wasn't enough. He was in Suna, when he met the young jinchuuriki Gaara of the desert, a thought snuck up on his brain and he couldn't believe that he never thought of this before. Minato Namikaze was a great man but he was still a man, there is no way, no matter how strong he had been, he could kill a bijuu, much less the lord of all bijuus himself. That meant Konoha had a jinchuuriki. He felt an almost over whelming urge to meet the child that Namikaze had chosen as sacrifice.

* * *

Sneaking in to Konoha was hard but not impossible especially with his talents in seals. A henge backed by a seal was enough to get him pass.

It wasn't hard to find the kid either, just had to follow the glares. The first time he saw the three year old kid he thought he was imagining things.

That noble hearted Namikaze, using his own son as a sacrifice. And an Uzumaki too. Guess the romantic stories of the yellow flash and the red hot habanero was not entirely wrong.

The boy was the perfect mix of Namikaze and Uzumaki. The golden blond hair and ocean blue eyes were purely Namikaze's. But the boy's personality was much like his cocky and reckless mother who Masaru had the pleasure of meeting a few time in the battle field.

Masaru sneered at the way the civilians treat the young blond. Fools despising the one they should worship.

He needed to take a look at the seal that held the Kyubi at bay, Minato Namikaze's last work. He got the chance he waited for, posing as a doctor during one of Naruto's checkups. One look was all he needed after that he copied the seal into a scroll and studied it. A wonderful piece of work, the eight trigram divination seal powered by the Shinigami, a complex Uzumaki seal, he only recognized it because he had studied Uzumaki seals for a long time. He tried but failed to fully comprehend the seal, such was the complexity of the seal.

A few things were clear though, the seal allowed the fox's chakra to enter the boy in small amounts to increase the boy's immunity to the demon chakra. It was also made to allow large amounts of demon chakra to be called upon at occasions. So Namikaze wanted his son to be a weapon for the village, a village that despised the boy. Namikaze had added fail safes to the seal, though he didn't fully understand how they would stop the bijuu if anything went wrong. There was also the little fact that if Naruto dies Kyubi dies along with him.

That Namikaze had sacrificed everything for Konoha. A brave and noble man.

But now it was time to plan Konoha's destruction. This seal was Namikaze's greatest work and he wanted to destroy it. Konoha would end and by their own hands no less.

* * *

It took three more years of careful planning and hard work to complete his self appointed mission. He fooled the Konoha nin for so long, disguising as an old traveler who finally wished to settle down. It was not hard to fool the civilian council into permitting him to stay. He carefully avoided shinobis altogether. By the end of the three long years he had all the data he needed and had finished the special seal he was creating. He had made sure that what he was about to do will not be countered by the boy's seal's fail safes. It took three long years but it was worth it. But even now after three years of attempts he still cannot fully understand the eight trigram seal.

He had learned about the yearly beatings Naruto Uzumaki received on his birthdays, the Kyubi festival and the occasional drunks who would lose sense and attack the boy. The time of the festival was the best day for the attack with the constant crowd and noise drowning out the boy's cries and avoiding detection by the Hokage's anbu. Ever since a particularly nasty incident when the boy had almost been raped by vengeful villagers on his fourth birthday, the Hokage had an entire anbu team guarding the boy on the month of his birthday. That incident was what made Masaru make his final decision. He tolerated many things but child molesters were downright disgusting. The bastards deserved what was coming to them. Since they could no longer attack the boy on the festival, the villagers had started to become more aggressive towards the boy on other occasions as well. But there always was at least one anbu keeping watch of the boy, but even some of the anbu resent the boy. Fools!

The boy was seven years old now and had joined the academy last year, his batch mates were all a year older than him, the boy wanted to join early. The Hokage probably agreed because he wanted the boy out of the civilian council's hands. That won't matter anymore.

He killed the boy's anbu guard and impersonated him. Then he made plans with the leader of the group that held a grudge towards the young boy. He gave them a place and time for attack and also told them that he can prevent the demon's chakra from healing the boy.

He laid carefully made seals around the area of the incident, so that his plan will not be interrupted. It was a place the boy often passed through.

Konoha's end was close.

* * *

Naruto walked through the silent street, not wearing a silly smile like he usually did in front of others. He had taken the short cut he often took to go home. As much as he loved attention, being around a lot of people made him very nervous; maybe it was the results of all the abuse he took.

He was thinking about the academy.

If he kept up like this he would surely fail to pass the academy. But there was nothing he could do without no one to help him. None of the academy instructors are happy to be even in his presence. He knew they hated him but he didn't know why. He had a few theories, and all of them ended with the Kyubi. There has to be a reason they call him 'Kyubi brat' when they believe he doesn't hear.

He thought that acting like a clown would at least cause them to smile at him. He just couldn't take the hatred anymore. Annoyance was much better than hatred.

Naruto sighed he was tired. The thought of walking in to an empty apartment didn't lift his mood. He can go to ichiraku that would definitely lift his mood.

Suddenly he felt his instincts scream at him, but couldn't do anything as he was grabbed of the street and pulled in to the alley way. Darkness engulfed him before he could even make a sound.

* * *

The mob of villagers sneered at the unconscious blond in the arms of the anbu. There were about twenty people present. Most of the villagers no longer hated they boy instead they simply ignored him, so even though they knew of the mob none actually bothered to join or save the boy. Those who still loathed the boy with a passion believed that the demon was corrupting everyone. That was when a golden chance was presented to them by the very anbu who was supposed to protect the boy. The demon will end today and Konoha will be saved.

* * *

Masaru disguised as the anbu stared at the group of villagers, his frown and disgust hidden behind the rat mask. He looked at the boy in his arm, so innocent, so small and so pure. His heart clenched.

Soon the boy will be free of all the hatred.

He laid the boy down on the cement pavement. The self proclaimed avengers of Konoha seemed thrilled. What all they planned to do to the boy? The thought made Masaru sick. But he said nothing as he lifted the boy's white shirt and exposed his stomach.

He applied a little chakra so that the seal became visible, Masaru heard some gasps. He took a premade seal and stuck it to the boy's seal, then went through the necessary seals before slamming his palm on the boy's stomach.

He watched in fascination as his seal spread over the boy's seal and disappeared. He smiled grimly when he saw that the eight trigram seal had changed in the desired way. The boy's face contorted in pain but he did not move.

The villagers were watching impatiently. Masaru touched the boy's forehead and his hands glowed briefly. Now the boy was successfully trapped in his own mind. It was a mercy, so that the boy did not feel anything these scum decided to do to him. Masaru stood up and turned to look at the villagers.

"It is done. The demon chakra will no longer heal him. I have shielded the area using seals, so you will have time to do the job and leave without detection."

"You sure? It's still only four in the evening…" one of the bastards said.

"No one will enter this area for half an hour maximum. The seals will keep them away. Don't waste time." Masaru send the boy one last look before moving to leave.

"Hey you don't want a chance for revenge?" someone asked gleefully.

"No. I will be keeping watch." And with that Masaru left the boy in the hands of those demons.

* * *

Masaru entered his apartment. He had very little time to make his escape.

Everything was already prepared. He took the scroll containing all his belongings and removed the carpet on the floor.

A massive seal became visible. A teleportation seal. Although the chakra wastage was large, he didn't have time for anything else. He stood in the middle of the seal and with a surge of chakra, he vanished.

* * *

 _ **HALF AN HOUR LATER**_

"Hokage-sama Naruto Uzumaki has been attacked." An anbu wearing a cat mask appeared before the Hokage and spoke.

Sandaime Hokage; Hiruzen Sarutobi jumped out of his chair and slammed his fist down on the table in rage,

Hiruzen was furious and worried.

Before anything else could be spoken a malicious chakra filled the atmosphere. The Hokage's eyes widened as he felt a chill run down his spine. This is the Kyubi's chakra, did the seal break?

Another anbu appeared before Hiruzen, "Hokage sama the seal is"

Hiruzen was gone even before the anbu finished.

The Sandaime Hokage shunshin-ed to the hospital. The civilian's all around were running frantically, even they could feel the oppressing aura of Kyubi. The ninjas were trying to keep the civilians calm.

The Hokage reached room from where the red chakra was raging. Medics and ninjas were standing at the corner of the hall way. The patients all have already been evacuated. Red chakra was lashing out in the form of tendrils not allowing anyone to enter the room.

An anbu appeared near the Hokage.

"Hokage sama."

"What is the situation sparrow?" Hokage asked seriously.

"We found the boy in alley way being attacked by a mob."

"And what about his guard?" Hokage asked with narrowed eyes.

"He is missing Hokage sama."

Sarutobi resisted the urge to growl. The anbu continued.

"The Kyubi's chakra wasn't healing the boy. The wounds were critical. We bought him to the hospital immediately. The medics were treating him when the first chakra explosion occurred. It wasn't large enough to be sensed from long distances. It was not harmful as well."

The Sandaime raised an eyebrow at this.

"Moments later we felt the Kyubi's chakra being released in huge amounts. The medics were thrown out of the room by the red chakra. None of us have been able to enter the room ever since."

The Sandaime observed the red chakra that was taking the form of 3 tails and lashing out from the room. There was only one explanation, the seal was breaking. He tried taking a step forward but the chakra lashed out at the old kage. Hiruzen jumped back avoiding the chakra tail.

Suppressing the chakra was impossible without getting near the boy and at the moment that too was impossible. But since a Kyubi-fied Naruto wasn't rampaging the village they can safely assume that he wasn't possessed… yet. Damn it! They need Jiraiya right now. Hiruzen felt sweat drip down his face as a fourth and fifth chakra tail was formed.

"Hawk!" Hiruzen called out. They mentioned anbu commander appeared before the Hokage.

"Evacuate the hospital of all personals. Prepare to set up barrier seals around the hospital. Send a team to retrieve Jiraiya immediately."

"Yes Hokage sama."

But right then something else happened. The chakra tails waned and was suddenly pulled back inside the room forcefully by a snowy white chain. Everyone present watched fascinated as the chain tried to suppress the red chakra. Even more surprising was the fact that the tails seemed to flinch away from the chain as if touching the chain hurt them.

Another chain joined the fray, then another and two more appeared suddenly. The five chains wrapped around the five tails and pulled back. There was a brief fight for dominance; finally the red chakra seemed to completely dissipate. Everyone present was amazed. Soon both chakras had vanished.

Hawk moved towards the room keeping his senses open for any nasty surprises. Once he was sure everything was fine he nodded towards the Hokage. As soon as he did the old man rushed past hawk towards the room.

Inside, the room was completely devastated. The walls were charred and every single piece of cloth was ashes. And near a collapsed wall in a melting bed lay a naked seven year old boy. Golden blond hair and three whisker like scars on each cheek. His eyes were closed, eyebrows furrowed as if in pain, which Hiruzen guessed that the boy was. There was not even a single scratch on the boy. He looked perfectly fine if not for the pained expression.

The old kage lifted the boy into his arms and cradled the young boy, covering the boy with his own robes. Hiruzen noticed that the boy seemed healthier. He now looked like his age and not like some mal nourished street rat. He was definitely heavier but still light for his age. He seemed to have grown an inch or two in height as well.

"Cat, find Hyuga Akemi and bring her to my office." With that Hiruzen vanished in a shun shin taking Naruto with him.

* * *

Head of the hospital Hyuga Akemi stood in front of the Sandaime Hokage. She had light brown curly hair reaching mid back that was in a pony tail and pupil less silver eyes.

"Hokage sama." Akemi bowed.

"Hyuga san, tell me what happened at the hospital after the anbu bought Naruto kun in."Hiruzen asked.

"When the anbu bought the boy in, we almost thought the boy was already dead. The damage done was quite severe; we would've lost the child especially without the Kyubi's healing. But then something happened. One moment the he was dying and then the next the he was good as new. Instant regeneration that's all I could say."

The Hokage's eyes widened. Akemi continued, "We were all stunned but thought that it was the Kyubi's power."

"And it wasn't?"

Akemi shook her head. "The healing was the result of some other chakra. Definitely not the Kyubi's."

"You are sure?" Hiruzen asked, already having witnessed the white chakra chains.

"The chakra was white, pure white like the snow. Nothing like the Kyubi's red chakra. It felt so pure calming and … almost divine."

Hiruzen was not sure what to think of this situation. Could it be some blood line? Kushina had such a bloodline but although the chains are similar, the chakra was entirely different. Akemi continued her report.

"The white chakra was the first one that exploded out ward. But it didn't harm any of us. It was miraculous. That chakra healed almost every patient in this floor!"

And Hiruzen thought he couldn't be more surprised. Instant regeneration didn't seem so farfetched at that moment.

"That's when everything went to hell. The white chakra receded in to him. I used byakugan to check on him. Hokage sama the boy has four chakra path ways!"

Hiruzen felt numb. He already knew of Naruto's three chakra path ways, but where did this fourth one come from?

"Continue Akemi san." Hiruzen said preparing himself for the next bomb.

"One pathway filled with his natural blue chakra. The next one contained the Kyubi's chakra. The next one contained his chakra mixed with the Kyubi's in small amounts, but still more potent. These three pathways had already been there since the boy activated his chakra.

The last and most recent, since I know that he didn't have such a pathway when they bought in the boy last week, is the one with the white chakra. And surprisingly it is the largest of the four pathways and is still growing. Last time I checked it was mid jonin level reserves but at the rate it keeps expanding I won't be surprised if it reached anbu level by now."

"What more can you inform me about this white chakra, Akemi san?"

"Besides it's healing abilities? It is really dense, similar to Kushina's chakra and really potent similar to sage chakra. Its development rate is frightening. It also seems to be opposing the kyubi's chakra. There is a struggle for dominance between both chakras and the white chakra is winning. " Akemi said.

"Is that a good thing or bad thing?" the Hokage asked worried.

"I am not sure. I am very worried for Naruto kun." Akemi said.

She was a close friend of both Kushina and Minato. She was Kushina's team mate. She along with Kushina and Minato had made chunin together. She separated from them only when she started her medic nin training. Even then, they kept in touch. She had been on a mission on the day of the Kyubi attack.

She never got to even say good bye to her friends at their funeral because she had been incapacitated due to her mission.

Akemi had tried to adopt the boy but the council did not let her because of her clan status. She can understand that they didn't want any clan abusing the kyubi's power. But that did not deter her from helping the boy whenever she could. She was the reason that none of the hospital staff's who treated the boy wrongly never continued at the hospital.

The old Hokage nodded sadly.

"Naruto kun is at the infirmary inside the anbu facility. The guards will let you in. you are free to go check on him. I know you want to. I am handing over his treatment to you. You will lead the medic team at the infirmary taking care of Naruto kun."

"Thank you Hokage sama."

Akemi bowed to the Hokage and left the office.

As soon as Akemi left a dog masked anbu appeared before the Hokage.

"Dog, report."

"We found the body of Naruto kun's missing guard Hokage sama. Medics say he died three days ago. He was murdered using a katana. His body was found buried."

The Hokage frowned thoughtfully.

"Hokage sama, the criminal is at least an A ranked ninja. Had we not been looking for the guard specifically we would not have found the body in a long time. He also managed to avoid detection for three days and maybe longer posing as the guard. The civilians who had attacked the boy said that it was a ninja who persuaded them into 'purging' the demon that controlled their Hokage. Everything was pre planned Hokage sama. We also found seals surrounding the area of the attack, preventing any detection of the attack by the patrolling anbu. The seals were high quality and not manufactured by any of our seal makers. The seals seemed to be custom made which can only mean that the culprit is well versed with seals."

The Sandaime's frown deepened. This was bad. Why would an outsider have anything against Naruto kun, going to such great lengths to get the boy killed, that too by the hands of the villagers itself? If he/she was as skilled as they believe, it would've been easy for him to just kill Naruto kun and be done with it. And the seals… things were getting more and more complicated. He needed to check the kyubi's seal just to be sure.

There was an urgent knock on the door. Then the door was almost smashed open by Morino Ibiki head of interrogation and torture department. Ibiki didn't bow or waste time with any formalities.

"Hokage sama, the kyubi's seal has been tampered with."

The Hokage shot out of his chair.

"What?!" this could be really bad.

"The villagers I was interrogating, they said that the anbu who helped them, altered the kyubi's seal right before the beating began. The anbu had told the villagers that he was adjusting the seal so that the demon won't be able to use its chakra to heal itself afterwards."

"Dog, come with me. Ibiki get anything more you can get out of the civilians."

With that Sandaime and the dog anbu vanished in a shunshin.

The Hokage and anbu appeared inside the anbu infirmary.

Hyuga Akemi stood with a look of anguish on her face. She was gazing at Naruto who was thrashing in his bed in pain. Silent tears streamed down her face. Hiruzen couldn't stand to look at the suffering boy.

"Hyuga san, what is going on with Naruto kun?" Hiruzen asked the medic.

"He is dying Hokage sama…" was the pained reply.

* * *

 _ **Hai so how is it?**_

 _ **Please review... and thanks for reading.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Hai, am back...**

 **well this is chapter 2. it's not much but i hope you like it. Please review.**

 **Chapter 3 might come a little late and i apologise in advance.**

 _ **I don't really own Naruto.**_

* * *

 **INARI BLESSED**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Akemi Hyuga and a certain dog masked anbu sat in the Hokage's office. No one spoke a word, a depressing aura suffocating them in the light of the recent discoveries.

Akemi's had no tears left to cry, she didn't care that she was a kunoichi, she just couldn't stop.

"There has to be a way. Something… anything we could do to help him Hokage sama." Akemi was desperate, Naruto cannot die.

"Maybe Tsunade sama…" Dog trailed off.

"I have already send anbu to find her, but we can only hope that they find her in time."

"When will Jiraiya sama get here?" Akemi asked reigning over her agony.

"Am already here." A voice announced from the window sill.

They all looked over to the white haired pervert sitting on the window sill. Jiraiya noted the melancholy air and a spark of fear coiled in his chest, but he appeared nonchalant.

"Jiraiya I need you to check Naruto kun's seal. Someone has tampered with the seal." Hiruzen said. The chance that Naruto will survive even if they fix the seal is low, but they weren't willing to give up hope. Naruto was their little sunshine.

"How is he?" Jiraiya asked worried about his godson.

"Barely alive." The emotionless whisper from Akemi startled Jiraiya.

"Am sure that once we fix the seal he will be fine. After all it's our gaki we are talking about; he's too stubborn to die." Jiraiya said with conviction. Even though they knew the chances were slim, at that moment they all believed Jiraiya.

* * *

Jiraiya stared horrified at the seal laid before him. This can't be happening.

He realized what exactly that bastard had done the moment he saw the changes in the seal. He read Naruto's medical reports as well, this is bad. Konoha is in deep shit. He wouldn't have cared if only those ignorant fools die but everyone will pay for the actions of one mad genius and some fools. There is only one way out of this situation but no matter what he does, his gaki was a lost cause. The utter pain in his heart stunned Jiraiya.

"Where is sensei?" Jiraiya asked the dog anbu standing beside him.

"In a council meeting. I will inform him you need to talk with him." The expression on Jiraiya's face told him that the matter is urgent. But Jiraiya stopped him before he could go.

"No. Those bastards in the council should hear this."

* * *

Jiraiya followed by Dog entered the council chambers solemnly. Dog didn't know what was going on but he could feel the dread pooling in his stomach already.

"It is not safe to keep the boy alive if the seal has a chance of breaking." One of the civilian council members shouted.

"Yes. We of the council, call for the execution of the demon for the safety of Konoha." A smug merchant said.

The killer intent flowing out of Hiruzen made the entire council quiver.

"Hokage sama… th-there is n-no use in in-in-intimidating us. We s-speak f-for the sa-saftey of Konoha. That dem… b-boy is a danger." A brave member of the civilian council spoke.

But before the Hokage could reply to the fool, Jiraiya made his presence known.

"That boy is the only thing keeping all of us alive right now." The cold tone surprised everyone.

"What are you saying Jiraiya sama?" Shikaku asked frowning.

"The moment Naruto dies the Kyubi will be free once again." The entire hall was wide eyed.

A fool scoffed, "We heard for years about how the boy is keeping us safe from the Kyubi. This is nothing more than a ploy to keep the boy alive." Some others agreed.

The clan heads stared at the fool who had the nerve to speak to Jiraiya like that. But to everyone's surprise Jiraiya chuckled.

"Is that so?"

"Well if you are telling the truth Jiraiya sama then we should be happy that the boy is alive then." A much more sensible civilian said.

"Not for long." Jiraiya said solemnly.

"What are you speaking of Jiraiya?" Danzo asked.

"The boy won't be alive for long. Within the next ten hours we will have a dead jinchuuriki and a rampaging demon at our hands."

At first silence, then panicked cries and yells followed his words.

"SILENCE" everything stilled as the Hokage said that.

"Jiraiya explain the situation, so that we may come to a logical decision."

"There's nothing to explain. Naruto is dying. The maximum life he has left is about ten hours. And as soon as the boy dies Kyubi will be released. If you need to know further about the boy's condition ask Hyuga Akemi san."

As soon as the words left his mouth Hyuga Akemi was bought in by several anbu.

"Hyuga san, explain the boy's condition." Koharu ordered.

Akemi ignored her completely and looked at her Hokage. Only when he gave permission did she begin speaking.

"Uzumaki Naruto was severely injured during the attack this evening. The Kyubi's chakra did not heal the boy for some reason. But he was healed by the white chakra the boy activated. It may be a bloodline activated when a near death situation was created." She heard a few gasps. The demon having a bloodline was too much for them to handle, she was sincerely hoping those old coots have a heart attack.

"What can you tell us of this supposed bloodline?" Danzo asked.

"We don't have any data on it. But the chakra which was activated is growing at an alarming rate and trying to expel the kyubi's chakra out of the boy. Both chakras seem like natural enemies. That was the reason for the chakra surge this evening. The white chakra keeps trying to expel the kyubi's chakra. When that became impossible due to the seal, the chakra began fighting against the seal. This internal struggle caused the boy's chakra pathways to break permanently at some points."

Everyone's eyes widened. Breakages in chakra pathways are very dangerous. Akemi continued,

"The white chakra has already absorbed all of the boy's natural chakra which was maintaining the seal, which caused the seal to become unstable."

"Which is why fixing the seal is out of the option." Jiraiya added.

Akemi nodded. "The boy now contains only one chakra pathway, containing the white chakra, other three pathways which existed in the boy has already been either destroyed or absorbed by the new pathway. At this rate, Naruto kun's chakra pathway will collapse in on itself leading to instant death." Her voice was unwavering, but her heart was shattered.

"Hokage sama we have to do something. The Kyubi cannot be released once again we have yet to fully recover from the previous attack, one more will be the end of Konoha."

Panic and chaos was raging. Hiruzen kept silent. He knew that Jiraiya has something else on mind. Jiraiya meanwhile was thinking whether he should let the village rot or not. If he goes forward with his plan, Naruto will be lost, but if he didn't… as much as he hates the civilians Konoha was still his home. Saving Naruto was impossible at this point.

"How about we reseal the Kyubi in someone else." Danzo suggested drawing out gasps from almost everyone. Many of them feared for their infants who had been born recently.

"Well Konohamaru kun is there, maybe we can seal" but before the merchant could finish,

"Pathetic. You disgusting pigs! None of you are willing to sacrifice one of your own yet you despise the one that had been sacrificed for you. What's to say that this won't happen again in the future?" Jiraiya had enough with these ingrates. He sneered, "Besides sealing the demon in an infant is out of the option."

"And why is that Jiraiya?" asked Koharu.

"For the sealing technique I have in mind an infant will not suffice. We need a child, preferably a boy, who recently activated his chakra. That way the pathway will be stable enough to hold my seal and flexible enough to adjust to the kyubi's chakra."

The council room grew eerily quiet; many of them had children in the academy that had recently activated their chakra.

"Boy's have naturally larger reserves that way they will have more chance at survive the sealing."

"What is this technique of yours Jiraiya? And why not use the seal used on the first and second Kyubi jinchuuriki?" Danzo spoke. Hiruzen glared at his rival for exposing such information in front of civilians. But since Danzo didn't say names, punishment was not possible. The civilian council was stunned to say the least; there were more jinchuurikis for Kyubi?

"It's too dangerous. Both of those sealing worked only because of the Senju wood release or the Uzumaki chakra chains to keep the bijuu subdued during the sealing. Since the only Uzumaki left is dying and there is no one with powerful enough wood release, even if the seals are strong we won't be able to finish the sealing." Jiraiya scoffed, letting the council know how much they messed up.

"What about Tenzo or the Uchiha?" asked Koharu.

"Unless you have someone in mind that could measure up to Madara and Hashirama, it won't be enough."

"And the technique you are using?"

"It is a seal transfer technique; we will transfer the seal from Naruto to the new jinchuuriki before Naruto dies or the seal breaks. It is the safest option possible at the moment. but when i transfer the seal it will remain the same, meaning the death of the new jinchuuriki shall result in the release of the kyubi."

"You can fix that once the seal is transplanted to the new jinchuuriki can't you Jiraya sama?" someone asked.

Jiraiya Scoffed,"And why would I do that? So that you can Kill the new jinchuuriki as soon as he/she is made? I know that, that condition is the only thing that will keep the boy/girl safe. So I will not change it, no matter what you say. If you have a problem you, don't bother me with it." Jiraiya sneered.

"What are their chances of survival?" Hiruzen asked eyes closed.

"The new jinchuuriki have a fifty percent chance of survival…"

"And Naruto kun?"

"The seal transfer will… completely shatter his chakra pathway… either way he won't…" Jiraiya didn't finish. Hiruzen nodded.

Hiruzen stood up, "Think carefully, all of you were preaching about how you were ready to kill Naruto for the sake of the village, now the question is will you be able to sacrifice one of you own for the same reason. I will be announcing the news to the whole village. Hopefully someone will come forward."

* * *

Akemi was sitting near Naruto's bed; the whole village was in panic. Soon the Hokage and Kakashi without his dog mask joined her.

"The announcement is done?" she asked quietly.

"Yes. Everyone now knows of Naruto's burden and they will soon have to make a choice."

"What if no one comes forward?"

Silence was her reply. But she didn't care. "He wanted to know who his parents were. We couldn't even tell him that… Now we won't get a chance to…" she broke down.

"I failed them… I failed my sochi. My sweet boy…" she wailed.

"We all failed them…"

* * *

 **NARUTO'S MINDSCAPE**

Naruto didn't know what was happening. He remembered someone grabbing him but how did he end up in this sewer? Did they throw him in here? The thought that they threw him in a sewer like trash depressed him. But maybe he should be thankful that they didn't beat him up?

He kept walking forward following the glowing red pipes on the ceiling of the sewer, but he came to a stop in front of brick wall. The pipes were cut off by the brick wall, he couldn't move forward anymore. There was this weird symbol etched on the wall. He shrugged, this place is creepy.

Suddenly the sewer began shaking. An earthquake? He was terrified. The ceiling started falling and he became scared so he ran in the same direction he came, but couldn't find any way out. The falling debris was starting to scare him. That's when he saw the small door in the corner. He would not have noticed it if it wasn't for the gleaming silver door knob. Seeing no other way out he ran towards the door. For moment he was worried about what was behind the door but the need to get out of the collapsing sewer made him open the door. Then everything exploded in brilliant white (This was during the time of the first chakra surge at the hospital.)

Naruto didn't know what was happening the white chains were twisting around him, cradling him and he felt calm and safe.

The chains went towards the cracking ceiling and held it together. And as if by magic everything began fixing itself. The debris vanished and the ceiling was fixed. The sewer began to change. The water was gone and the dirty floor and walls were replaced by white marble. He stood dumbfounded. But he saw that the brick wall was still standing. But now he could feel something, something was behind that wall, something dangerous. The chains became agitated and began lashing against the brick wall. Naruto was scared. The chains were violently trying to break the wall down.

Soon the wall broke. The chains rushed forward. The sewer behind the wall also changed as soon as the chains entered. He didn't know whether to follow the chain or not. That's when he heard it.

A roar, which soon turned into cries and whimpers. All Naruto could think was that someone was in pain, he rushed forward without thinking.

What he saw made him scared. There inside a cage was a giant nine tailed fox. Few chains had managed to slither inside the cell and were strangling the fox. They were trying ripping the fox into pieces. Another set of chains were trying to break the bars of the cell. The fox let out another roar of agony and Naruto couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop! What are you doing? Let go of him. You're hurting him." But the chains kept on with their task.

The fox's whimper made Naruto cry.

Suddenly the fox changed into a man. He looked about 20 years old with wild red hair. A slim but muscular body and piercing red eyes. There were nine fox tails spread out behind the man and two fox ears atop his head. The man had a wild look. The chains were holding onto each of his limps including his tails. They looked like they were trying to rip the tails off the man. The man was crying out in agony and Naruto kept yelling at the chains to stop, but they didn't. finally when he was about to move forward so he could reach the man to help, two slender arms took a hold of him from behind and cradled his struggling body against a firm chest.

Naruto cried out and tried to look at his capturer. It was another man, long silver hair framing a handsome face. Cat like emerald eyes and pale milky skin. The man was stunning. Naruto was enchanted for a moment, but then he remembered the other man who need help, he looked back only to see that he was in plain white room.

"Hello kit."

Naruto stared at the man who was yet to put him down.

"That man he-he n-need he-help." Naruto spoke crying. He didn't know what was going on but it hurt him to see the red haired man in pain.

"He will be fine kit, I promise you. And I can never break a promise."

"Really?"

"Yes…"

"Ummm… who are you Mister? And what's a kit?"

"Me, I am Inari, Naruto kun. And a kit is a baby fox."

"Inari? Like that foxy god?"

"Mmmm I suppose…" he said with a sparkle of mischief. "Kit, do you know why I am here?... It's because you have awaken the bloodline of the Sora clan."

"A bloodline? You mean I am from a clan? So I have family?" Naruto asked excited, tears threatening to fall.

Inari shook his head, "I am sorry kit, but you are the last member of three clans."

Naruto cried silently,"At least now I know that they didn't abandon me… wait! You said three clans!"

"Yes kit. The blood line you awoke is of the Sora clan, but neither of your parents was from the Sora clan."

"Can you tell me who they are?" Naruto asked quietly.

"There is someone waiting to tell you about your parents' kit. You will know soon."

"Promise?"

"I promise. Now I am going to tell you about the Sora clan. You see your grandmother from your father's side and your great grandfather from your mother's side was from the Sora clan. That is how you obtained the Sora bloodline, although under normal circumstances you would never have activated the bloodline since the bloodline was too diluted… I guess we should be thankful to that madman."

"Who?"

"No one you should be worried about… Anyway, you see a few centuries ago, I was wandering the earth when I came across a hanyou; which means a half demon. He was an orphan, a human mother who didn't want a demon child and a demon father who died in a war. Everyone hated him, they treated him like dirt."

Naruto gasped, "Like me? So am I a ha-han-hanyu too?" he asked sadly.

"You are not a hanyou kit, but you are his descendent."

"Is that why they hate me?"

"No. In fact no one but us knows about your ancestry at the moment. You will know the reason of their hate soon kit. Now let me finish my story… so I took him in. his name was Youko. I raised him. Later he fell in love with a human and had a son, who they named Sora, because of his beautiful blue eyes. Since Sora was technically my grandson, I gave him a gift, a bloodline called the Divine Touch. Basically I gave him a special chakra that could do a lot more than the normal chakra. His bloodline was passed on to his children and so on.

But soon my children become corrupted and many began abusing the power I gave them. So I was forced to discipline them. I took away what I gave them. I made it so that only those with a pure soul and the blood of Sora could ever hope to use the Divine Touch. And that is why you could use the bloodline kit. Because you are a very good person."

Naruto blushed and buried his face in the man's kimono. Inari gently stroked his hair,

"Remember Naruto, you are the first to activate the Sora bloodline in a long time. But the most important thing is that, you are my kit, my son, my legacy."

Naruto stared wide eyed. "Y-you-your s-so-son?"

"Yes, kit."

Tears came unbridled and he hugged the man… his father… for dear life. Inari hugged back letting his aura calm the child.

"Now go Naruto, there are people wishing to talk to you."

"Huh!" Leave? What about his father he just got him...

Inari saw the panic in his kit's eyes.

"Don't worry I'll be right here waiting for you… I promise."

And everything went blank.

* * *

When Naruto opened his eyes, everything was blurry and his whole body hurt... where was he? Was it all a dream? A dream that he gained a father?... Of course it was, how could someone like him, find a father, that too a god? He felt like crying... Everything hurt, but what hurt most was his heart, that dream felt so real...

"Naruto kun? Oh... Naruto kun you are awake..." He heard a familiar voice, Akemi san. he tried to talk to her but his throat felt like he swallowed a large sharp rock.

"Naruto kun nod if you can hear us..." That was jiji. Naruto nodded slightly, but even that hurt.

"Oh Naruto... Am so sorry... I couldn't save you..." He heard Akemi san sob. He wanted to tell her not to cry, nothing was her fault, but what happened to him anyway?

"Naruto kun you were attacked a few hours ago..." Oh that made sense...

"Naruto... there is something I have to tell you..." Jiji sounds so sad... did i make him sad?

"I know who your parents are Naruto kun." If Naruto could, he would have yelled.

"Your father was the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze; your hero... And your mother was Kushina Uzumaki... And they both loved you very much..."

Tears fell from his eyes. His parents loved him, they wanted him... And then his jiji told him everything... How his father sealed the Kyubi in him. How he wanted Naruto to be seen as a hero. How his mother and Uzumaki Mito before her were the jinchuurikis of Kyubi. Jiji held nothing back, told him everything.

Akemi san told him about his parents. They were close friends. She told stories of their genin days. How Naruto acted just like his Mother but has his father's colouring, how the shape of his eyes resembled his mother's and he felt happy that he was like them so much. He heard about how his mother lost her whole village in the war and he felt so sad for his mother.

"Naruto..." Who was that? He didn't recognize the voice.

"I know you don't recognize me... How can you? I never even came to see you once..." He could hear the self hatred in the man's voice. He wanted to tell the man to not be sad.

"And now you are here and it is all my fault, maybe if I had taken care of you, you wouldn't be... Naruto I wanted to teach you so many things... I wanted to make you into a fine shinobi that would one day surpass your father... I am so sorry Naruto... I ...I am your godfather Naruto... My name is Jiraiya and I was the one who taught your father..."

Naruto was shocked once again... God father? He had a godfather? Then why wasn't the man there when he need him? But Naruto knew that the man regreted his actions, so he listened, listened to how the man couldn't take him because it was too dangerous, how he send money to help raise him, he was scared that he couldn't properly take care of a child... and Naruto couldn't feel angry at him anymore. The man did what he could.

The next one to talk to him was Kakashi Hatake, his father's last living student. Naruto was surprised to know that Kakashi was the dog masked anbu who always helped him.

Naruto felt warm, all these people all of them loved him... And for him, that was enough.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading... please review.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.**_

 _ **Forgive me for spelling mistakes and all.**_

 **INARI BLESSED**

The next time Naruto opened his eyes, he was in a familiar white room. He was lying in someone's lap. He looked up to see who it was and when he saw familiar silver hair and emerald eyes, he cried.

"Kit…" the man cooed and hugged him close.

"Is this just another dream…?" Naruto whimpered.

"No kit… this is not a dream. I am real, as real as the rest of the world…" he said softly.

Naruto looked up at the man hopefully, "So you're real and you'll be, be m-my fa-father?"

"I am not sure." The man said thoughtfully. Naruto's face dropped.

"I mean if it is a father you want I could be a father or maybe I could be your mother, I was wondering which would be better… mmm… I know, I'll be both… how does that work anyway… gah! This is too confusing… why am I thinking this anyway? No matter what happens you are my kit, so it shouldn't matter what you call me."

The man rambled on ignoring Naruto's widening eyes. Finally he saw Naruto's face and chuckled sheepishly,

"Ah… well you see… I don't exactly have a gender. So it shouldn't really matter if I am your mother or father. So you can call me father if you want I guess, but personally I think tou- chan sounds better. So what do you say?"

His answer was a crushing hug by the seven year old. For a moment Naruto thought that the man…err… Inari… didn't want to be his father. Inari heard Naruto mumble tou chan repeatedly under his breath, he smiled gently.

"Jiji told me about them… my real parents… they loved me, tou chan… they they wanted me… and my dad, he he" Naruto couldn't finish as sobs wreaked his body. A childish fear that his new tou chan might hate him if he knew… but all his fears were put aside by Inari.

"I know kit. I know. I heard everything and I don't hate you. I love you with all my heart because you are my kit and always will be…" Naruto sobbed harder but this time because of joy.

"Umm, tou chan, where are we exactly?"

"Oh! Oops I almost forgot that part. Well kit we are in your mindscape."

"My what?"

"Mindscape kit is a place in… well, your head to put it simply."

"My head?"

"Err… we are actually in your mind… "

"Oh!"

"Kit… what do you think about the Kyubi?"

"I…I hate him… but…"

Inari waited patiently for Naruto to gather his thoughts.

"But… I couldn't blame him for hating us… he was sealed again and again… maybe, maybe he was sad… and angry like the entire villagers feel. Sad and angry that we stole his freedom, that he couldn't be with his family anymore. I… I want to hate him… but I can't… not without knowing why he did it. I can't blame him like the villagers blame me, without knowing him."

"Good kit… I am proud of you…" Naruto blushed.

"Now I am going to tell you about the nine bijuu. You have heard about how the nine bijuu was created from ten tails, right?"

Naruto nodded. The old man Hokage had told him something like that.

"Well you see, in order to defeat the ten tails, the sage of the six paths sealed the chakra of the beast within himself and became the first jinchuuriki…"

Naruto gasped,"He was like…me…"

"Yes… and when it was close to his death, he knew the chakra beast will be released after his death and no one would be able to defeat the ten tails. So he split the chakra into nine separate entities, but none of these entities had a soul. So they would've acted on their most primary instinct and since their chakra was actually from the malicious chakra of the ten tails, their instinct was to cause chaos. The sage in order to prevent that from happening decided to anchor the chakra into nine souls so that these souls may keep the chakra beasts in line without having to create more jinchuurikis. And so, the sage summoned nine spirit guardians."

"Huh?"

"Spirit guardians, kit, are souls who serve under a divine being and become guardians of a particular realm or world. The first eight that was summoned were all mostly from Gaea, the earth realm and they were all animal spirits of various kind. But you see the ninth chakra beast was much more powerful than the first eight, so the sage knew that a much stronger spirit would be needed. So he summoned me and asked for help and I let one of my spirit guardians to become the ninth bijuu."

"The Kyubi… so that's why he looks like a fox huh?" Naruto said quietly and looked at his belly. Inari nodded quietly.

"What happened to him?" Naruto asked wanting to know how a guardian became a monster. Inari's face shadowed,

"He was very brave and had such a strong spirit. Even when the first eight of them lost their minds under the corruption of the chakra he remained strong and protected them all, to him they were his siblings and a kitsune always protects their family." Naruto looked on in awe.

"But soon his siblings were sealed by humans. Since he didn't want to create chaos he had steer clear of the human villages."

"So he couldn't save them?" Naruto asked sadly.

"No… they were all pretty much gone mad by the time they were sealed, releasing them would've caused too much chaos, chaos that he was created to avoid. He mostly lived in solitude. Avoided contact with any other beings except when I or my foxes pay an occasional visit. And then… he made a mistake…"

Naruto saw the sadness in his father's eyes and hugged him. Inari looked down at Naruto and smiled gently.

"The chakra clouded his judgment and he trusted someone he shouldn't have. He was desperate, the ten tail's chakra was constantly assaulting his will power and he wanted someone capable of keeping him under control, someone with the power to keep the ten tail's chakra in check. There exist three bloodlines that are able to subdue bijuu chakra. First one is the Senju wood release, the first Hokage had it. It was blessing given by Kami. The second one was the Uzumaki chakra chains, a blessing given by Shinigami."

"Chakra chains…My mom had them…" Naruto said sadly. Inari hugged him in comfort.

"The third one was the Uchiha sharingan it was a blessing by Yami. Out of the three blood lines sharingan used to be the one with the least control over bijuu chakra."

"Used to be?"

Inari nodded grimly. "One day an Uchiha had somehow found where Kyubi was resting. Still struggling to stay in control, he trusted the Uchiha's offer for help. So he used some of his youkai to enhance the Uchiha's sharingan and gave it the power to control the ten tail's chakra. And since all bijuu are made of the ten tails chakra the sharingan obtained the power to control every bijuu. That Uchiha was Uchiha Shin, father to Madara Uchiha. Shin decided to use the sharingan's new power to fight against the Senju by controlling Kyubi. But Kyubi saw through this at last minute and somehow escaped, but the power of the sharingan was passed on to the next generations. Years later Madara followed his father's footsteps and tried to control Kyubi and unlike his father, he succeeded. Kyubi at that time was on the verge of losing control and when Madara used the sharingan on him, his will got taken over. He became a puppet to both Madara and the bijuu chakra, Then he got sealed inside Mito and later Kushina and then you."

Naruto saw his father's melancholy look and spoke,

"I promise I will help Kyubi, tou chan. I will help him get back control."

Inari chuckled, "Oh my kit… you already are helping him…"

"Huh?"

"You remember the man you saw earlier? Well that is Kyubi."

"Eh! Oh no! What happened to him? He was in so much pain, gah! We have to help him…" seeing Naruto's panicked state Inari gently took hold of his kit's shoulders and spoke,

"Kit I promised he will be fine didn't I? And Inari never goes back on his promises."

Naruto calmed down and chuckled sheepishly, "Sorry tou chan I just panicked that's all." Inari could still see that Naruto was worried but had chosen to trust his father.

"Naruto… I or my followers never goes back on our word. Promises no matter how small are to be kept. If you can't keep your promise then don't promise in the first place, understood?"

Naruto saw his father's serious look and nodded, "I will never go back on my word tou chan and that's a promise."

Inari smiled at his son. He was proud of Naruto and his kit looked so cute when he was serious.

"We will go see Kyubi later. Now I am going to tell you about your bloodline."

Seeing Naruto nod excited, he continued;"Naruto I told you that there are three bloodlines capable of subduing a bijuu, right? But there are two other bloodlines capable of cleansing bijuu chakra or any type of dark chakra. And one of them is your bloodline the Divine Touch. The other one is a bloodline called Divine Flames, a blessing given by Amaterasu, the sun goddess. Both bloodlines are similar to each other in a lot of ways but are still different.

The Divine Touch gives you a special type of chakra called Divine chakra, while Divine Flames gives the user control over golden flames of the sun goddess. Only those with a righteous heart can ever hope to use this bloodline. It passed on from the head priestess to head priestess of the temples of Amaterasu.

Divine Touch however is a blood line more attuned with the nature. The user becomes in perfect harmony with nature, this allows them to freely absorb nature chakra and wouldn't have to worry about turning to stone. Normal people turn in to stone if too much nature chakra is absorbed. You can also manipulate plant life. Remember I said manipulate, not control. You cannot sprout trees in the middle of deserts like wood release, alright?"

Seeing Naruto nod he continued,

"Then there is the fact that the divine chakra has an unnatural ability in healing. It would be able to heal most critical wounds, if you have proper control. **Phoenix Rebirth** is an ability of this bloodline, it costs a lot of chakra, but you will be able to heal everyone within a particular area, the larger the area, the larger the chakra cost. There is also a negative emotion sensing ability that is part of the bloodline. There is a technique called, **Final Judgment** that allows you to see a person's soul and weigh his good and wrong deeds. This is a very dangerous technique, because you will be living through their memories, and if the soul is particularly nasty it could become traumatic, understood? These techniques are not to be used carelessly."

Naruto nodded. The fact that his father was worried about him made him feels all warm and fuzzy.

"Normally, these are all this bloodline should be able to do, but somehow your Uzumaki heritage interfered with the Sora blood line and gave some additional features to your bloodline."

"Is that good or bad?" Naruto asked worried.

"It's nothing too bad. In fact it is good, in a way. This way you will have to do work harder than all previous Sora to master your bloodline."

"Eh? What do you mean? Tou chan?"

"Well you see your chakra became much denser than it should be for a Sora. This way you will be able to use the Pure Chakra Manipulation techniques of the Uzumakis."

"Huh! Really! This way… I'll always have a part of my mom with me…"

Inari smiled at the young boy.

"By the way what does it do exactly?" Naruto asked confused. Inari chuckled.

"Chakra chains, kit. But it isn't only chains, you can shape your chakra into anything you really wanted; most Uzumakis just have this weird fascination with chains…" Inari shrugged. Naruto looked sheepish.

"Let me guess you like chains too…" Inari drawled seeing the blushing boy.

"Is that wrong?" Naruto asked worried that he may have offended his father.

"Nah! I think chains are cool too, I just don't understand why every single Uzumaki likes them." Inari shrugged.

"So what else can I do?" Naruto asked in barely contained excitement.

"You have massive chakra reserves, and when I mean massive I mean like… maybe three or four tails worth… and it's still growing…"

Naruto's eyes bulged; even jiji didn't have that much chakra.

"Which also mean you will suck at chakra control. You will have to do some massive chakra control exercise to even have any control at all. This would make it impossible for you to learn techniques that require only little chakra. And by the time your chakra reaches full capacity, even B level ninjutsu will become impossible for you."

Now Naruto was horrified. "But but you said it won't be that bad. What's the use of chakra if I can't use jutsu?" Naruto was starting to pull his hair out.

"Kit… this is the case if you don't have any chakra control… but of course if you train properly you will be able to control your chakra to some level…"

Naruto took this as a challenge. And Naruto Uzumaki never backs down from a challenge.

"Well, I'll train the hardest, and then I'll have the best chakra control at the academy by the time I graduate… and that's a promise."

Inari grinned, just what he wanted. "Remember kit, once given, a promise cannot be broken…"

"I won't." Naruto said with much conviction.

"Make me proud kit. Now come on lets go and see Kyubi."

Naruto nodded all the worry he had for the red haired man…err… fox came back full force. He jumped out of Inari's lap and held his hand. And with a wave of his (Inari's) hand they were standing in front of the metal prison cell.

Inside the prison cell however was different. The man was lying face down on the floor, naked. Where there were nine blood red tails, now only one remained, along with his fox ears and they were a sunset orange colour with golden tips. Behind the man however was a giant form of a nine tailed fox made of red bubbling chakra, roaring and snarling and thrashing against the chains that held it away from the unconscious man. Terrified, Naruto hugged his father; Inari lifted Naruto off the ground and into his arms.

"Tou chan, what's going on? Which one is Kyubi?"

"Well you see kit, I told you about the cleansing ability, right? Your chakra because of its connection to me instantly recognized Kyubi as family and tried to help him by removing the chakra that was driving him mad. But even with all your power purifying that much chakra is impossible, so instead the chains want to remove the foul chakra from you and Kyubi."

"Oh! So that's what the chains were doing earlier! But that thing won't break free would it? And what about Kyubi?"

"Don't worry kit. The chains are strong enough to hold it till it will be removed. And don't worry, Kyubi is only unconscious. See, he is waking up."

Naruto turned to look at the man who was groaning and trying to stand up. But Inari covered his eyes before he could.

"Tou chan?" Naruto questioned.

"Put some cloths on will you Kyubi, there's a kit here." Inari shouted and Naruto blushed knowing why his father covered his eyes.

As soon as Kyubi heard Inari's voice, he regained his brain functions properly, "Inari sama!" he yelled startled.

Then he processed what Inari had said. He looked at the bundle in Inari's arms and down at himself, he promptly blushed embarrassed. A navy blue kimono appeared to cover his lithe muscular frame.

As soon as Inari deemed Kyubi as presentable, he let Naruto see.

The man before him looked very different from last time he had seen him. His waist length silky red hair now cascaded down his back in neat tresses. His face looked more relaxed, yet there was this tension in his face, like he feared something that was about to come. His eyes were no longer red but Topaz, like molten gold. The navy blue kimono looked perfect against his milky skin. Most of all he looked aristocratic, instead of the feral look he possessed earlier.

"Hello…" Naruto greeted shyly. But instead of greeting back Kyubi turned his head away in distress.

"Kyubi…" Inari called sadly.

"Do… you… hate me for keeping you locked up?" Naruto asked quietly.

"No!" Kyubi almost yelled in surprise, "I mean… shouldn't you be the one to hate me? I mean it's because of me that…" Kyubi bit his lip.

Naruto understood that Kyubi wasn't angry but was guilty. "It's not your fault you know." Naruto said.

"I should have been stronger. Should've been more damn careful." Kyubi bit out.

"Stop it Kyubi. What's done is done. And stop cursing in front of my kit. Anyway you know that Fate is just a bit…. I meant bad person." Inari finished sheepishly.

Kyubi's gave Inari and unimpressed look, which caused Inari to pout and Naruto to giggle.

"Look, I know you think all that happened is your fault but it is not. Sometimes situations make us do things we regret, but if you keep drowning yourself in hate you will never be able to make amends." Both kitsune stared at Naruto after he said this.

"What! I can be smart too, ya know." He huffed blushing. This caused them to chuckle.

Kyubi felt a weight lift off his shoulders, seeing that the person he caused so much pain didn't hate him. If only there were more humans like Naruto.

"Naruto kun I apologize for every hardship I have caused you, I know an apology would never be enough but if there is anything I can do for you…"

"Well you can start by being my first friend. Be my friend and we're even." Naruto said with a straight face.

"Of course, I'll be honored to become your friend… Naru chan." Kyubi teased.

"Okay… hey! Don't call me that. I am not a girl, baka." Naruto pouted.

Both kitsune laughed.

"Come out Kyubi." Inari called.

"But Inari sama the seal"

"Is to prevent the bijuu chakra from escaping and as I recall you have none left."

Kyubi stared at Inari with wide eyes, and then he looked back the snarling chakra fox. He took a deep breath and stepped out of the cage. He gave a sincere smile, freedom was incredible. But…

"Inari sama this will not harm Naruto kun will it?"

Inari just smiled, "You worry too much Kyubi." The cage vanished behind them and they were back in the plain white room.

* * *

"Is everything ready Jiraiya?" Hiruzen asked from where he was at one corner of the room. Jiraiya was standing at the centre of a seal matrix. He nodded grimly.

Connected to the seal matrix were two other giant seals. On one of the seals, laid Naruto and on the other laid the new jinchuuriki.

The Hokage and nine other anbu made a circle around the three of them. All ready to begin.

"Forgive me… Naruto kun…" Jiraiya whispered and with that the resealing began.

* * *

"What happens now Inari sama?" Kyubi asked from where he was playing with Naruto.

Inari frowned thoughtfully.

"Kyubi, you will be coming with me for the time being…"

"What about me, tou chan?" Naruto asked somewhat scared at the thought of his father and new friend leaving.

"We will come back kit, I promise you." the promise calmed Naruto's racing heart.

"Okay…" Naruto said sadly.

"It has begun…" Inari said staring at the white ceiling.

"What has began, Inari sama?" Kyubi asked perplexed, he too felt the change in the chakra, but he figured it was nothing to be concerned about if Inari sama kept so calm.

"The resealing." was the reply.

"The what?!" two voices echoed one in disbelief and the other in confusion.

"They are resealing the chakra beast from Naruto into a new jinchuuriki…"

"Eh! They're taking Kyubi away?" Naruto cried hugging Kyubi.

"No, they are taking the bijuu chakra away…" Inari said smiling gently. Naruto calmed down.

"Who's the new jinchuuriki?" Naruto and Kyubi asked at the same time both worried for different reasons. Kyubi was worried about the power ending up in the wrong hands and Naruto was worried about how the new jinchuuriki will be treated.

Inari just smiled and stood up. "We will be leaving now kit. We will come back soon."

Naruto nodded sadly, determined not to cry. He then hugged both Inari and Kyubi.

"See you soon kit. Now I believe you have some guests… "With that Inari and Kyubi vanished.

"Huh?" Naruto looked around him confused, that's when he saw the two figures standing behind him. He turned towards him and froze on the spot.

Akemi was quite detailed in her descriptions of his parents, but now seeing them stand there, with those soft smiles and so much love shining in their eyes, all for him, Naruto felt like he was caught in a wonderful dream. Soon he was engulfed in the warm embrace of his parents.

* * *

 _ **Well that's it for now. i'll try to update soon. it would be great if you could review.**_

 _ **thanks for reading...**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did. you should know that already.**_

* * *

 **INARI BLESSED**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 4**_

Minato and Kushina did not know what was happening. They both remember how they died and how they had to leave their baby.

Now standing next to each other in front of their boy, they couldn't hold back their joy at being given a chance to meet their child. Shinigami sama's words still rang in their minds, they only had an hour with their boy and this was only happening because of a favor to Inari sama. They didn't care why Inari sama would ask for such a favor, but they wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Without wasting a moment, they rushed forward and hugged their son.

"Naru chan, my baby…" Kushina sobbed.

"Dad… Mom…" Naruto whispered.

Sarutobi must have told him about his parentage, they thought.

"Sochi… I…" Minato had no idea what to say, did their boy know about his burden? Did he hate them?

"Dad… I know everything and… and I still love you both…" Naruto sobbed.

"I am so sorry Naruto…"

"It's okay dad…"

"How was your life Naruto and tell us everything, okay…" Kushina encouraged her son. At first Naruto didn't know whether to tell them the truth or not, but then he decided to tell them truth. As Naruto explained how his life has been, Minato and Kushina grew murderous.

"I should have let Kyubi destroy the village." Minato said guilty and angry.

"No… I want that pleasure all to myself." Kushina said with eyes blazing as silent tears streamed down her cheeks.

"It's alright dad mom… it's because of that I met Kyubi and tou chan."

When Naruto said this they hugged him again and didn't let go. Minato was sad that Inari had replaced him, but then Naruto said that to him both his fathers were precious.

A determined look appeared in Kushina's eyes and she placed her hand on Naruto's forehead, her chakra flowed in and formed a seal on his forehead. Minato and Naruto stared not knowing what was happening, then her purple eyes glowed and her pupil disappeared. As soon as it started it ended. Naruto felt strange. Kushina had a satisfied look on her face.

"Dear?" Minato called confused.

"Naru chan, what I did now was a sacred ritual of the Uzumaki clan; it is used to transfer the secret techniques of the clan from one clan head to the next. And as of today, as the last living member of the Uzumaki royal line, you Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto is named the clan heir to the Uzumaki. You shall receive the knowledge when the seal recognizes that you are ready."

Minato's and Naruto's eyes widened. Then Naruto stood straight and placed a hand over his heart,

"I will make you both and the Uzumaki clan proud, mom. This is a promise. And Uzumaki Naruto never goes back on his word."

Kushina smiled proudly and hugged him again.

"Naruto…" Minato called. "I have named you the heir of the Namikaze clan as well. The key to the Uzumaki compound is your chakra and blood. We both lived in the Uzumaki compound since the Namikaze compound was always targeted once I became Hokage. So, all of our possessions are in the Uzumaki compound. Ask Sarutobi where the compound is and you'll be living there from now on, no objections, or I will haunt Sarutobi till the day he dies and then I'll handle him more physically."

"Count me in, ya know." Kushina piped in, and Naruto and Minato laughed.

"Tell Sarutobi to give you your inheritance. Every technique I have invented till this day is inside a vault in the compound, but remember sochi, when you train, find someone to supervise okay? I don't want you joining us by some training accident." Minato smiled.

"We thought we'd have time ya know…. To teach you everything… to see you everyday… we thought we'd have time…" Kushina said with a sad smile.

"It's okay mom…. Mom, dad, there is something I want to tell you guys."

Minato and Kushina looked at their nervous and scared son. Naruto was not sure how they would react to his decision. He hasn't even told Inari tou chan yet, but Naruto knew he'd never get a chance like this again, so either he tells them now or they would never now.

"It's okay Naru; we will love you no matter what you're going to say." Kushina said gently. Minato gently held his son's shoulder and smiled encouragingly.

"I… I am going to leave Konoha…" Naruto saw the concerned yet understanding look on his parent's face. "It's not because I hate the place or anything but I want to help Kyu find his brothers and save them. And… and I can't do that if am stuck in Konoha."

Minato and Kushina nodded, both relieved that their son wasn't consumed by hatred or anything, not that they liked Konoha or anything; they just wanted their son to remain sane and an overall good person. Naruto visibly relaxed when they nodded.

"But Sochi… when are you planning to leave? It's a dangerous world out there; we don't want you getting hurt." Kushina said concerned.

"Naruto, I know you have made up your mind, but I want you to wait till you reach chunin before leaving the village. Many ninja's retire once they reach higher ranks. By then you can also become strong enough to leave. Also you should officially become the clan head of Uzumaki. You can do that once you reach genin." Minato said. Kushina nodded understanding where her husband was going with this.

"That's right. The Uzumaki clan essentially still belongs to Ushio. Our life in Konoha was only a mutual agreement. The clan head of the Uzumaki has the right to leave Konoha with the clan, as Konoha is only a second home to us and even if you are clan head you will have no place in the Konoha council, which makes it easier to leave."

Naruto nodded in understanding. His parents were helping him fulfill his goal. He smiled, but then he saw how his father's face became sad, he understood why when Minato spoke.

"But, you will have to keep my relation to you a secret. It will make you a lot of enemies if anyone knows that I am your father; especially from Iwa. Also Konoha won't let you leave once you officially become recognized as the son of a Hokage. So if you wish to cut all ties with Konoha you will have to keep the Namikaze name a secret from the council."

"So I'll never be able to take up the Namikaze name?" Naruto asked saddened that he could never take up his father's family name.

"You can… once you ally with another village. It will cause a little political turmoil, but if you become a prominent member of another village and then 'discover' that you are the son of a Hokage, they have no right to call you back, it also helps that the Namikaze clan doesn't have any bloodlines." Kushina said with a smile.

"That would work. When you leave take the necessary records with you and make sure that Sarutobi doesn't officially name you the Namikaze heir." Minato was happy that his son would have a chance to take up on his family name one day.

Naruto nodded.

And as the one hour neared an end, all of them were happy that they got some time together, but none of them wanted to leave. Minato and Kushina started fading and they knew that it was time to leave,

"Good bye sochi… Know that no matter what we will always love you… Take care of yourself, okay?"

"You are the best thing that happened to us Naru chan."

"I love you mom dad…"

And with that they faded.

* * *

In his office, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat processing what just happened. The resealing had been done. Konoha now had a new jinchuuriki. And the most surprising fact of all, Naruto was alive. His surrogate grandson survived, the simple fact set his heart at peace.

"Hokage sama."Hiruzen looked at a happy and relieved Akemi.

"Hyuga san… How are Naruto kun and the new jinchuuriki?"

"Both are fine Hokage sama. But there is something you should know regarding Naruto kun." Akemi became serious.

The Hokage knew that even if Naruto had survived, he might have taken some irreversible damage. He prepared himself for the worst.

"During the sealing, Naruto kun's chakra coils took a massive strain and was completely ruptured."

"What!" Hiruzen gasped alarmed. "But that means…"

"Normally that should mean death, but here the result is completely unheard of. I believe it is the healing property of the white chakra that makes this possible."

The old Hokage was intrigued. The smile playing on Akemi's lips meant that something good had occurred.

"Normally once the chakra coil ruptures the free chakra enters the cells directly and the cells die because they can't take the strain and cause instant death. But here, when the chakra entered the cells, the healing chakra might have increased the durability of the cells, and as a result, each cell in Naruto's body is literally drenched in chakra."

"How is that even…? He always manages to surprise us…" Hiruzen said with wide eyes. "How will this affect him?"

"Currently I am not sure as I have not seen such a phenomenon before. There is also one more thing."

"I should prepare my heart for another bomb…" Hiruzen muttered seeing the gleeful and incredulous expression worn by Akemi.

"Since his chakra isn't limited by the size of his coils anymore, there was an incredulous rate of chakra production. I believe that the white chakra was trying to replace the Kyubi's chakra that was lost."

"This means…" Hiruzen was starting to curse Minato for putting so much pressure on him.

"This means that Naruto has nearly nine tails worth of chakra at the moment. And the chakra production has stopped, so I hope for Naruto's sake that it won't grow any larger."

Hiruzen sighed. "No one can know of this except us four. As far as the council knows, the boy can use chakra chains and has healing chakra. If this little detail is leaked, things could become difficult."

From the shadows Jiraiya and Kakashi stepped forward and nodded.

"What are we going to do now that Naruto knows everything?" Akemi was worried that the boy might hate them for not telling him sooner. None of them wanted that.

"We will leave it up to Naruto."

The others nodded to the Hokage's decision. They hoped that the boy didn't hate them. All of them quieted as they felt an approaching chakra signature. The chunin entered the office after knocking.

"Hokage sama, the elders have announced the identity of the new jinchuuriki to the villagers." He said nervously.

"What! Who gave them permission to do that!" Hiruzen roared in anger. Those imbeciles!

"I did." Uchiha Fugaku said as he entered the office calmly followed by the village elders.

"And just when did you become Hokage?" Hiruzen asked venomously. Fugaku shrank back nervously, but kept his composure.

"The villagers should know what the Uchiha clan has sacrificed for their sake. They have been informed what will happen if they harm my son. This way he will be respected for his sacrifice."

"The villagers have the right to know, Hokage sama." Koharu said.

"And they know that the boy's death means their inevitable doom, so they will behave themselves. And from the response we have seen from the villagers, everyone respects the boy; they know that it could've been any of their children. The boy will be treated fairly, as a hero should be."

"That said, you have no right to undermine the Hokage's authority. And as it is, your actions are a sign of insubordination and you will have to receive your punishment." Jiraiya said seriously. These old coots were the ones who destroyed Naruto's life, they are going to pay.

"Silence boy, it is not your place to give us punishment." Danzo said.

Jiraiya grinned, "Oh, it is not my place, but it is the Hokage's. And you all will do well to remember that as one of the sannin I have equal standing as you."

Hiruzen sat back in his chair with a calm, grandfatherly smile, "That is right. Such action from the village elders and my advisors are very unwise. So as of today you are no longer my advisors, that means you have no place in the council as well." He said in a gentle voice, sounding like he was reprimanding misbehaving children.

And before Koharu could open her mouth, Hiruzen continued, "And I also received some evidence to some of your more unsavory actions. Trying to bribe the hospital personals to mistreat Naruto kun, bribing the civilian council, disclosing high class information without the permission of the Hokage, keeping valuable information from the Hokage, aiding in the Hyuga incident, aiding in the supposed 'fox hunts', stealing from the Uzumaki clan funds and blocking Naruto kun's stipend." The Hokage's KI rose as he spoke but he was still smiling calmly.

The advisors were shaking and sweating now. Fugaku was not sure to stay or run. Danzo kept his face blank but he knew he was caught; at least Root was still hidden. Maybe he spoke too soon, Danzo thought as he saw the disturbing smile on Jiraiya's face as he looked at Danzo.

"For your crimes you three shall spent six months in the shinobi prison, and 3 million yen will be extracted from each of your wealth and transferred to the Uzumaki account. And 5000000 yen will be extracted from each of you and will be given to Naruto kun as compensation. And if anything is left after that it will be given to Konoha hospital and orphan funds."

The three elders were pale, they lost everything. Danzo was worried, as well as relieved. Hiruzen had yet to mention about root or any of his other crimes, but if he fights back now everything will be exposed. So he kept quiet. Money was not a problem, after the six months in the shinobi prison he will be back in Konoha, six months was not worth destroying his whole plan over, Hiruzen will get what is coming to him once Danzo gets out. With that Danzo decided to stay quiet and endure.

The anbu came and took them away. Fugaku fidgeted.

"You will not be punished, but remember that after this if anything happens to your son you are the one responsible. The villagers aren't the only one to be afraid of."

Fugaku frowned but bowed and left.

After he left Hiruzen sighed contently. Jiraiya chuckled first, soon all four of them were laughing.

"I wanted to do that for a while now." Hiruzen said.

"They got what is coming to them." Akemi said chuckling.

"But now I need three advisors." Hiruzen said.

"Are they really necessary? What if they turn out like the previous ones?" Akemi asked worried.

"Who is it that you have chosen?" Jiraiya asked seeing the look on his mentor's face. Hiruzen smirked.

"Akemi san, Kakashi you may both leave." Hiruzen waited for them to leave. They bowed and left.

"Danzo looked really smug." The old Hokage said smiling.

"He won't be once he finds out that he won't ever be getting out of there." Jiraiya said.

"He doesn't even know that we know about everything he has done, including his plan to wipe out the Uchiha clan using Itachi and Shisui. My old friend has fallen so low. Root will be taken over and added to our anbu. They will become our section of hunter nin. Anbu captain Taka will be placed as their leader."

"Disbanding them will only be useless. What about the children who are yet to be fully integrated with them?"

"They will be sent to the academy if they wish, or will be placed in the orphanage under special care."

Jiraiya nodded. "What about Naruto's heritage?"

"He will get the Uzumaki clan funds in the bank, as we still have no way to open the Uzumaki compound; that will have to do. Since everything that belongs to the Uzumaki clan is kept inside their compound and the compound is closed off, I am afraid he will not get anything else."

Jiraiya frowned sadly. Giving the boy his Namikaze fortune was out of the option due to his father's enemies and the ritual to open the Uzumaki compound was lost when Kushina died.

"Jiraiya, Danzo should not live any longer. I was hoping he would change, but it is too late. His decision to wipe out an entire clan to obtain the sharingan was foolish. He even joined with that wayward student of mine to implant the cells of the first Hokage in to his arm. I will not let this go on any longer. Had we not known, he would've killed Shisui and we would've been forced to order the elimination of the clan." The Hokage sighed warily.

"It will be done." Jiraiya said and left the office through the window.

Hiruzen stood up and went to the window and gazed at the Hokage Mountain, one face in particular. He could hear the shouts and celebration from the villagers; they were celebrating their new hero. True to Koharu's words the entire village saw the new jinchuuriki as a hero, the way they should have treated Naruto. It took almost end of Konoha for them to change. He sighed once more. "Why didn't I offer to do the sealing in Minato's place?" the old Hokage grumbled, things would've been much better that way.

"Hokage sama, Uzumaki Naruto is awake."

Hiruzen nodded to the anbu and left to see his surrogate grandson.

* * *

All of them stood silently as they stared at the blond blue eyed boy with trepidation. His birth marks remained even after the resealing, but they were lighter and barely visible, they were sure that it would fade with time. The boy just stared at them blankly. Jiraiya and Kakashi had rushed in as soon as they heard Naruto was awake. Akemi as always, was with Naruto. The four of them had no idea what to say, so they stood without uttering a word.

Naruto stared at them for some more time before he sighed, "Are you all going to keep staring at me? I am sad that none of you want to know how I am…" Naruto said scowling playfully.

The adults let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. Soon Naruto was drowning in hugs.

"You are not angry?" Akemi asked refusing to let go of her Naruto.

"Angry? No. I understand your reasons. And you wouldn't guess what happened to me." Naruto smiled mischievously. All of them stared at the boy in confusion.

"I met mom and dad."

All of their hearts stopped for a moment. Naruto chuckled sheepishly, they all looked hilarious.

"Naruto kun what are you talking about?" Hiruzen asked worried about the boy's mental health.

Naruto chuckled and began telling his tale, he knew he could trust them, he could sense it. None of them held anything but love and care towards him. Naruto watched humorously as they became paler and paler, his inner prankster cackling madly. He told them everything, including his Sora heritage, meeting Inari, then his parents, Kyubi and his plan to leave. They all were saddened by the last part, but they understood and were willing to help him.

"So, who's the new jinchuuriki? Tou chan didn't tell me when I asked."

"Oh, you know him. It's your classmate, "Uchiha Shin, Sasuke's older twin."

* * *

The following week was absolutely boring for Naruto. Akemi said that his increased chakra need some time to settle down and for his body to reach a balance, so they had to monitor him for a week at the hospital.

But since he had a lot to think about he was not as bored as he should be. He also felt much calmer now that the malicious chakra was out of his system, and his new chakra always filled him with a type of serenity. He found out that he could sense emotions as well. He tested his emotion sensing with the few people he saw at the hospital. The one emotion he felt common from his four precious people were love, pride and compassion, he couldn't pinpoint exactly which emotion because these three always felt similar. But he could feel the difference between intense emotions, like between love and hate.

Akemi told him what happened outside the hospital. Shin was treated much like loyalty, he felt happy that he wasn't treated badly. But he did not know what to think of the other boy. Uchiha Sasuke was a bastard emo, but he was tolerable. But Shin was someone who took the 'holier than thou' attitude to a whole new level. Naruto only hoped that the boy changed with time, for all of their sake. That kind of power he now possessed is not to be taken lightly.

One thing he felt from the nurses who checked him is that, they no longer hated him. He could feel the miniscule amounts of guilt. But they chose to ignore it rather than confront it, so instead of hating him, they now acted as if he didn't exist. He was not sure whether it was a good thing or bad. He did hear them whisper gossips; apparently most of the villagers were afraid that he would end up like Orochimaru to have revenge. Many believed him to a flight risk, while some argued that he could have been already influenced by the Kyubi.

But what hurt him most was that most of the villagers now referred to him as the failure of a jinchuuriki. They felt that his father had done a mistake in choosing him to be the jinchuuriki, as if it was Naruto's fault that he almost died and released the chakra beast, but as always Akemi was there to cheer him up. After all, why should he listen to those ignorant villagers who never knew his dad? His father trusted him and was proud of him even after he knew everything.

He didn't waste the entire week moping, he trained his chakra control. Akemi as a medic knew a lot of chakra control exercise. She started with the basic, leaf sticking exercise and he still couldn't master it. But he will one day, he was sure. After all he had a promise to fulfill.

There were many discussions of adoption by Akemi. Although Naruto wanted it, he couldn't do that knowing how the Hyuga elders wouldn't approve of such a thing, not because of him being an ex-demon host, but because he was an outsider from the clan. So he said that he would live at the Uzumaki compound.

He still remembers their surprised expressions when he told them that only his blood and chakra was necessary to open the compound. They had been surprised and indignant, when he said about how his mother made them into fools. Apparently his mother had told them that there was a weird ritual to open the gates of the compound. She made them dance in front of the gates and said that it was part of the ritual. His mother had shown him her memories of all four of his precious people dancing ridiculously in front of the gates. He had black mail material worth a life time. He could still remember them cursing about the Uzumaki prankster genes.

* * *

He stood in front of the gates to his new home. The Uzumaki compound stood proud, yet simple and homely. Unlike other clan compounds, this one didn't look as extravagant, but there was feeling of warmth that accompanied the small (compared to the other compounds only) compound. He felt like he was home. He could feel the chakra of the Uzumaki coursing through every part of it. This was why the Uzumaki compound was the safest, because the compound itself was family. And family always protects each other.

The Uzumaki clan house was a master piece of Uzumaki art work, from the outside it was a large house, not enough to be called a mansion, but inside it was a damn castle; the wonders of fuuinjutsu. The Uzumaki heirlooms proudly displayed showed how much they trusted their skill in protecting them. There was a room meant for Naruto, it was a baby room. He didn't change anything. He decided to live in the room next to his parent's. Even if he knew that he was living alone in this big compound, he never felt alone. Naruto sighed gladly, this was home.

* * *

 _ **That's it for now folks. Thanks for everyone who reviewed, it really lifts my spirit.**_

 _ **See ya next time..**_.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Hi so here is the next chapter.**_

 _ **i have a feeling that i didn't properly edit it yet, so if there are any mistake, blame it on my stupid brain. and please point them out so that i could correct it. life is hectic and i am kinda going crazy with everything that's been happening and this is my only way of some stress relief(punching the keyboard that is...).**_

 _ **I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.**_

 **INARI BLESSED**

It has been two weeks since Naruto was released from the hospital. He spends most of the time at the compound, reading scrolls. Akemi had forbid him from going to academy saying that he needed more rest. She came daily to check upon him. Jiraya had left the village again, but not before visiting Naruto.

Kakashi came often, but Hiruzen was busier with everything that was going on.

Akemi Hyuga (head of the hospital), Hawk (the anbu commander) and Satoshi Shinji (the head of the banker's association and finance advisor) were appointed as the hokage's new advisors. The removal of the old advisors had shaken the council up. They now knew to tread carefully around the hokage.

The civilian council had bought up a suggestion to name Uchiha Shin as the successor of Namikaze Minato as a reward for the sacrifice that was made and since the yondaime had no heir. Hiruzen was fuming, how can they be so damn ignorant?

He knew they were only trying to get in the Uchiha's good graces and revealing Naruto's heritage was out of the option. So Hiruzen told them that the yondaime had left the Namikaze fortune in the name of Uzumaki Naruto, as a compensation for the sealing. And as the actions of a former hokage cannot be rewritten, even if named the successor, Uchiha Shin will only receive the Namikaze compound.

As expected, this made the civilians and Uchiha happy. As far as they knew, all of the yondaime's prized possessions were left in the compound and since the Uzumaki boy had no legal guardian swindling money from him will be like taking candy from a baby; well we can safely say that they didn't know much.

Even though she could not adopt Naruto, Akemi had officially became Naruto's legal guardian and Satoshi who was one of the few who wanted to make it up to the boy for mistreating him in the past, decided that he will make sure that Naruto's inheritance stay safe.

Then there was the certain fact that the Namikaze compound was sealed shut, and was accessible only to a Namikaze (Which happens to be none other than Naruto himself) and even if they somehow manage to open the compound (Highly unlikely); there is nothing of value left in the compound, as Minato had everything moved to the Uzumaki compound when he moved there.

Since none of them held much attachment to the compound itself, it was considered as collateral damage. If the compound is given to Uchiha Shin, legally, Namikaze Minato will be declared as the last Namikaze, which will make it easier for Naruto to leave. In that meeting itself Naruto was declared as the Uzumaki clan heir and was decided that the boy will become clan head when he become genin.

Akemi had taken it up on herself to teach Naruto the necessary skills for a clan heir. She also taught him how to cook, manage his money, and take care of the house and mainly chakra control.

Unknown to Akemi, Naruto had also taught himself the shadow clone technique, which was an original Uzumaki technique and was using it to up his training regime (The specialty of shadow clones were all mentioned in the scroll he read). Akemi is going to throw a fit when she finds out, but Naruto decided that he will cross that bridge when the time comes. So that two weeks was quite productive in Naruto's opinion.

The first day he returned to the academy, the experience was not something he expected. He clearly predicted the reaction of the adults, some were regretful, some were suspicious, and most chose to ignore him, but there was no hate, which put him at ease. He doubted he could stay sane if he was assaulted with constant hate now that he had his emotion sensing ability.

It was the reaction of the children that hurt him most.

He knew that everyone was aware of him being the ex-jinchuuriki, including the children; everyone knew the new jinchuuriki as well. The kids hated him. They thought he was weak and almost got them killed because of Naruto's stupidity.

They never called him a demon or monster, but they said he was a useless waste, someone not worth the fourth's sacrifice. He thought they would accept him once they knew, but he had been wrong. The adults no longer hated him, but the children now did, for entirely different reasons.

Naruto felt like screaming that it was not his fault that he was almost killed. It was not his fault he was tortured.

Naruto kept his head high and refused to cry as he entered the classroom, almost everyone was hateful towards him; all their emotion was driving him crazy.

He saw the village's current hero smirking at him, arrogantly.

Shin had jet black hair styled just like his father's; in fact he looked just like a mini Fugaku, with a paler complexion. Beside him sat his twin, Sasuke Uchiha.

Before Shin had been proclaimed hero, Sasuke was considered the prince of the academy. Things are different now; it is visible in the way Sasuke glares at Naruto and Shin. At Naruto for being the reason that Shin was made a hero and at Shin for probably taking away the attention he secretly loved.

Shin was always jealous of Sasuke, now he had the upper hand. Fugaku no longer cared for Sasuke, in his narrow minded world only his jinchuuriki son existed now.

It was all part of an elaborate plan. They didn't want to turn him into a demon host at first, but someone had pointed out a little fact that the sharingan was once improved using the Kyubi's chakra (a clan secret passed down from the first Uchiha himself) so why couldn't they do it again?

If they had the Kyubi, it was only a matter of time before the jinchuuriki got enough control to use the chakra to raise the sharingan to a new level. Shin had offered himself to become the demon host so that he could gain some kind of acknowledgment from his father, but he got way more than that. He struck jackpot.

Sasuke and Itachi no longer mattered. It was only their mother that cared for those two now, but his father always told him that, that woman was worthless and weak, so he really didn't care.

Naruto was starting to feel suffocated due to the sheer amount of disgust and hatred. That's when Naruto felt it, a strong wave of some emotion that made him warm, comfortable and safe. There was an undercurrent of love and guilt. He could not pinpoint who the emotions were coming from, but he felt that it was directed towards him. And from another source he felt a great deal of understanding and anger, the latter not directed towards him. He was confused; trying to pinpoint the location of those emotions was like looking for someone from the middle of a crowd.

Naruto saw an empty bench at the back and sat there, he was sure no one would sit next to him. He was broken out of his musings when someone sat on his right side. He glanced up surprised. It was a boy with short spiky red hair. He was taller than Naruto and had mesmerizing golden eyes; his skin was a beautiful shade of ivory and he was very good looking for someone his age, almost ethereal. Naruto was sure that the boy wasn't in this class last year.

"Um, hello." Naruto said nervous for some unknown reason, "I am Naruto Uzumaki." He said shyly.

The boy smirked showing sharp canines, "Kyoshiro Kazama."

Naruto smiled brightly. The boy suddenly put his hand around Naruto's shoulder and leaned close to Naruto and whispered in Naruto's ear, "I am hurt, did you forget me so fast Naru chan…" the words that were almost purred out caused Naruto's eyes to widen. "Kyu?!"

Surprise followed by happiness then excitement. Naruto almost jumped on to the older boy's lap as he hugged him. The kitsune only chuckled as he held him.

"We'll talk later okay?" Kyubi said and Naruto nodded. He felt the same feeling he felt earlier, he knew now what it was, Kyu was always protective of him. He smiled happily.

Just then someone else sat down on Naruto's other side. Naruto and Kyubi (I'm gonna call him Kyoshiro from now on.) turned to look at the newcomer.

Naruto knew the girl. She was Yumiko, an orphan. She was almost anti social, with how she avoids most of the other students, but Naruto knew that it wasn't that she was anti social, but more like she had some kind of distaste towards clan children and most other children that worshipped the clan heirs. She had curled chocolate brown hair that ended at her shoulders, she had milky pale skin, pouty pink lips and wide eyes that were a really light shade of purple and if not for the fact that her eyes had pupils; she would definitely pass for a Hyuga. She was cute and innocent looking, beautiful like a porcelain doll.

Her face had an almost bored expression, and was observing the two boys casually.

"Am Yumiko." She said casually and turned to look at the front of the class. A light smirk lit her face as she said the next words, "You should get out of his lap, the class is about to start."

Naruto blushed at seeing that he was indeed still in Kyoshiro's lap. He moved and properly sat in the middle of them both. Naruto knew that the other person he felt earlier was her. She still had that emotion, as if she understood what he felt, then there was also doubt, she doubted herself.

They kept quiet as their new sensei; Iruka started the class.

As boring as history is, Akemi will kill him if he didn't learn, saying that it was necessary for a clan heir. She even bought him book on the history of other hidden villages, as if Konoha wasn't enough. Sure he liked books more now, but that didn't mean he had to 'love' them (especially history).

Then came the exercises, and everyone was led outside. It was simple, but Naruto became quickly tired and his body hurt all over. He fell to his knees as the pain increased. Yumiko and Kyoshiro were near him in an instant holding him. He didn't know why Yumiko cared, but he knew that she did.

Iruka stood uncertainly; he had no idea what to do with the ex-jinchuuriki, but made up his mind when he thought that the kid was his student. He rushed over to Naruto; the other kids snickered whispering that Naruto was a worthless weakling. All four of them heard it and Naruto's eyes became watery. Bu he refused to cry. He felt the anger oozing from the three that were holding him, not at all directed at him.

Iruka felt guilty that he ignored the boy; he knew how hard it was to deal with bullying. He made up his mind that he will help the boy in any way he can.

"Are you okay, Naruto kun?" Iruka asked. If the suffix didn't surprise him, the compassion he felt from the young chunin surprised Naruto. He nodded numbly.

"Akemi nee chan, had told me to take it slow. The resealing had damaged my muscles quite a bit and that they are still tender from the rapid healing; she said that it will be back to normal within a month." Naruto said with a smile.

The chunin nodded with a gentle smile.

"You should've told me, there is no problem if you need to sit out of the exercise for a month."

"No, nee chan said that the exercise will be good for my muscles." Naruto said.

The chunin nodded and led Naruto to the classroom to rest. The rest of the day went calmly, if you ignore the ridicule.

For some reason, Yumiko didn't sit with them after the incident during exercise. Naruto and Kyoshiro both felt her emotional turmoil and decided to leave her alone for now.

After class, Naruto had to talk with Iruka. The hokage wanted to speak with Kyoshiro, so he had to leave.

Naruto was asking Iruka about being able to use the shinobi library; Iruka set him up a library card happily and told him that he can have access up to the genin level of the library. Naruto was happy, his clan scrolls lacked medical scrolls, which were something that caught his interest, there were a few medical techniques but all of them were too high level for him to understand right away, so he decided that the ninja library was the best place to look for the basics. He didn't want to disturb Akemi now that she was busy with the council as well.

As soon as he stepped out of the academy building, someone pushed him to the ground. Naruto looked up and saw some older kids. They were sneering at him.

He felt that Yumiko was watching him as the kids ridiculed him; she was expecting him to do something, anything. But as always he simply endured what they did, it was a habit he picked up after all the times he got beaten up for talking back. Finally, when they started to beat him up, she grew desperate, he knew she was worried and when she was sure that Naruto had no plan of escaping or fighting back, she acted.

The older kids didn't stand a chance; her taijutsu was flawless (for an academy student) and her style was precise and swift. She gave them a warning to stay away and lifted Naruto of the ground. The older kids soon left. She took him to the pond a little away from the academy.

Naruto gave her a small smile; he was all healed thanks to his bloodline. He was about to thank her when she slapped him in the face, he sat on the ground stunned.

"You idiot! Why didn't you at least try to fight back? Why are you such a coward?" She yelled.

Naruto looked down, feeling her disappointment. She was angry and disappointed, but it all drained away when she heard him speak, "It always gets worse when I fight back."

She understood; she knew he was treated badly when he was the jinchuuriki. She sighed and sat down next to him looking at their reflection in the water.

"You should fight back. At least try. Don't let those scum's put you down."

Naruto knew she was speaking from her own experience. So he nodded silently. She looked at him analytically.

"I know how it feels when others call you worthless for something you can't control…" she mumbled, "But you shouldn't let them get to you. Strive to prove them wrong… That's what I do."

Naruto looked at her sadly, "First they hated me for containing a demon… Now they hate me for not being able to contain it… I feel like they'll never stop hating me."

She nodded, "Hey, let's be friends." She said suddenly, Naruto blinked at her almost not sure what she said. She nodded to her own suggestion without waiting for his reply, "That's decided then. You are going to be my friend from now on. So we should properly introduce to each other… My name is Yumiko, no last name. I live in the orphanage. I like chilled soba; I also like sweet apples and chocolate. My hobbies include trying to develop a new a fighting style and gardening. I hate stuck up clan people. My wish is to become strong and respected."

Naruto nodded smiling, but then frowned, "I, I am from a clan too ya know." He was nervous that he would lose his friend.

She looked startled, and then she saw that he was afraid. She had hated clans for a long time, but seeing the boy in front of her, something forced her to give him a chance, so she smiled stiffly, "It's fine as long as you don't end up as a stuck up bastard." And when she saw the sweet smile he gave her, she was sure that she made the right choice.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like…"

Later, when Kyoshiro came back to find Naruto, he found the boy giggling and talking animatedly with that girl from earlier.

"Yo." He said appearing directly behind Naruto. Naruto screamed and fell on to the pond. Yumiko saw the smirking Kyoshiro and both of them laughed when Naruto came up looking like a wet kitten.

"Name's Kyoshiro." He said to Yumiko, extending a hand for her to shake. She stared at him for a moment and then shook his hand with a slight smile; Naruto waited till they held hands and pulled Kyoshiro's leg causing both him and Yumiko to fall in the water. He laughed like a maniac, which soon turned into a girly shriek as the other two teamed up on him.

Well, as they say, that was the beginning of a wonderful friendship and the birth of Konoha's prankster trio.

Later at the Uzumaki compound,

"So, Kyo what are you doing here?" Naruto asked excited.

"Well, I promised that I'll come see you again, didn't I?" Kyoshiro asked smirking.

"That you did. But I didn't expect to see you like this."

"Well, Inari sama said that he needed someone to be with you when he couldn't. So I volunteered, seeing as it was a perfect opportunity to spend some time with my friend."

Naruto jumped and tackled Kyoshiro into a hug. Kyoshiro chuckled.

"You are going to be living here from now on. I am not going to let you go ya know."

And both of them laughed, happy to be with each other. The hokage knew who Kyoshiro was and he trusted the transformed fox so, Hiruzen had added Kyoshiro to the list of orphans they had saved from Root. Since none of those children had any records, no one suspected Kyoshiro among them. It was explained to the council that he was from the Kazama clan which was essentially, a branch clan of the Uzumaki. Therefore, Kyoshiro had no trouble getting officially added to the Uzumaki clan.

What Kyoshiro didn't mention was the fact that, for a spirit guardian to retain a solid human form, he/she would need to actually inhabit a human body.

Inari had to create a human body for Kyoshiro to use. And by inhabiting the human body, Kyoshiro had lost all his spiritual powers. The only power he retained was his shape shifting and that too needed to be learned again, since his brand new body had no experience. Inari had warned him, but he did it anyway. After all, this bundle of sunshine was worth it.

TIMESKIP

Naruto awoke with a grin. Today was graduation day. He looked at his sleeping companions, he knew Kyoshiro was awake but was too lazy to get out of the bed. He remedied that with a well placed kick.

Kyoshiro, who had not been anticipating this, fell out of bed with a shriek which woke Yumiko. Naruto snickered when Kyoshiro glared at him. Yumiko sat up, blinked then pulled Naruto back into bed before falling asleep cuddling him.

Naruto sighed. This was the daily occurrence at the Uzumaki clan house. Ever since they met six years ago, they had become inseparable (and insufferable too, to some of their prank victims, which often happens to be either Hyuga or Uchiha).

Yumiko liked the Uzumaki clan because of how they treated their clan members; an Uzumaki always protects their family. So two years after they met, when Naruto asked her to legally join his clan she was surprised and delighted. She had agreed eagerly; both of them already considered each other as siblings and technically lived at the compound. They were even happier when Naruto mentioned Blood Adoption.

The Uzumaki seal (the one which Kushina gave him) had deemed him ready at the age of nine and all the knowledge of the Uzumaki was slowly integrating into his system, that's how he knew about the blood adoption. One should be the clan head to approve the adoption, and since the seal had recognized that Naruto was ready, he had no problem doing it.

The academy teachers (especially Iruka) had a fit when Yumiko suddenly became Yumiko Uzumaki, since blood adoption was not that popular even among clans and the fact that there is no Uzumaki old enough to adopt, the teachers thought that they got married or something. They played around with the idea for some time (never wasting an opportunity for a prank), before telling Iruka the truth. The students still didn't know, since the trio was never in class.

It was on Yumiko's tenth birthday, her first birthday after she joined the clan, that they told her everything. They knew she was trustworthy and did not want to keep their friend in the dark any longer.

She had surprised them by instead of being angry or sad, had proclaimed Kyoshiro as the prankster king (because he was a fox and foxes are pranksters). Naruto did not agree, which led to a prank war between Kyoshiro and Naruto to see who the best prankster was. And after the war, when they stood there getting scolded by Akemi, Yumiko had came and proclaimed that she was the best prankster because she could make them prank each other effortlessly. This earned her two sets of adorable pouts from the boys and a whack in the head by Akemi. Then Yumiko had told the boys that she will be coming with them when they leave, whether they like it or not.

Yumiko, when she first met Akemi was skeptical, because she hated the Hyuga clan, but she soon understood that it was hard to hate Akemi when she always fusses over them like a mother hen. Yumiko had later revealed that she used to be a Hyuga and when they found out she wouldn't develop her Byakugan, her own father had asked to banish her from the clan because she was a disgrace to the Hyuga name and she was only four years old when this happened. Her mother had died when she was two.

These incidents only brought them together.

Inari visited whenever he could. All three of them liked to call him tou chan now. Kyoshiro was at first reluctant, since Inari was his lord and all, but Inari, Naruto and Yumiko pranked him till he agreed. Most of the time they came home to find Inari curled up on the sofa, mumbling about paper work, shadow clone and fried tofu. He trained them sometimes and had let all three of them sign the fox contract.

Along the way they had discovered their talents.

Naruto was exceptionally good in sealing. He was currently at level 15 and was sure that he would reach level 18 in a few months. This was amazing considering that 20 was the highest level of Uzumaki sealing and no one ever came even near the 18th level. Jiraya himself was only at the level 17. He also excelled in using the chakra chains.

Jiraya had taught Naruto the resengan on his ninth birthday. He was trying to crack the Hiraishin now. He also developed a new taijutsu style all for himself, with help from Yumiko and Inari. He analyzed the Sora taijutsu style and mixed it with the Uzumaki and Namikaze style to create a fast and deadly style called the Dancing Wind. He had also mastered chakra control. And just like he promised Inari, he had the best chakra control in the academy, it was near jonin level. Akemi had taken it up on herself to teach him medic ninjutsu, while helping Naruto increase his chakra control even more. He had learned many ninjutsu from the clan scrolls as well. Currently he should be high chunin level, if not for the lack of experience.

Naruto while reading about his clan had found out that they have a connection with samurais and most Uzumakis were sword masters. Uzumakis also a tradition in the clan for males to have long hair, so Naruto decided that he would keep his hair long to respect his clan and because of constant persuasion (death threats) from Yumiko and Akemi who just adored his hair. The soft golden strands now reached just above his waist. He also took to learning the Uzumaki kenjutsu style, and uses a katana. It was a family heirloom and was even used by his mother and was named Akaikaze.

Naruto had grown over the years and was no longer fit to be called short; this was something Naruto rejoiced over. He now wore a black tank top underneath a light grey leather jacket and anbu style black pants. He didn't wear any weapon holders or any weapons at all. His long hair was always neatly held together in a high ponytail. He would be considered the top good looking kid, if he ever showed his face often. Most of the times the three were busy training and whenever they pull a prank; they always vanish without a trace. So it's safe to say not many people saw them these days.

Kyoshiro, who had to sacrifice all his powers in order to become human so that he could stay close to Naruto, had to relearn everything he knew from scratch.

He mastered his shape shifting. He was used to his claws when fighting, the lack of that in his new body was also disappointing, well that was before they found the Uzumaki armory. There, Kyoshiro had met his love, a set metal claw gauntlets with retractable claws. It was love at first sight. The entire thing was black, with golden claws and it was made of chakra conducting metal.

He also had a fascination with swords, but he preferred two sword styles. There was a sword style he had once seen used by a young woman when he was still Kyubi, and he wanted to recreate the style. Although he didn't have full knowledge, he developed a style based on that one and named it the Raging Fox style. He uses twin katana, both with midnight black blade and seals engraved all along the blade and its guard. The seals were done by an ancestor of the Uzumaki clan. They were named Senshi and Tamashi. Kyoshiro too had his own taijutsu style, it was named Dancing Flames. He was very tall for his age, and had kept his red hair short and it remained wild. He wore a white tank top under a black hooded jacket and black leather pants with matching boots. He too had no weapons on him. Kyoshiro was to explain it simply; hot.

Yumiko had achieved her dream of developing her own taijutsu style. She was the one who finished her style first and had suggested that all three of them have a style unique to themselves and had helped her friends develop theirs. Her style was the Dancing Mist style. All three of the taijutsu styles were designed so as to perfectly complement each other. Their taijutsu styles made so that they work well together.

She also had started to develop her own genjutsu (the other two absolutely sucked at genjutsu, all they knew was how to break out of one and most genjutsu didn't affect them anyway).

When she joined the Uzumaki clan via blood adoption, there was a huge jump in her chakra capacity (she had cursed Naruto to hell and back for destroying her chakra control and then hugged him for making her family) and so she had to retrain her chakra control, then Naruto had taught her the shadow clones. She could make about 2 hundred clones where as the other two had no limit. But even so, their training had leapt of the record.

She was the same height as Naruto, and had let her brown hair grow long. She kept it in a bun, with curled bangs framing her delicate face. She wore a black battle kimono with golden flames decorating it.

Then they started learning things that they don't usually bother with (The wonders of shadow clone), because Akemi had warned them that over specialization was a weakness. So, all three of them had at least high genin level knowledge in almost everything.

The academy was boring. Since they had clones reading almost every history books available about all shinobi nations and then some. They also studied about ally villages, trade routes and non shinobi villages. Since, they will have to settle down in some other village later.

The hostility between the other students had not changed much. Only that, now all three of them were considered out casts. Naruto was a bit depressed that this was because of himself, but had snapped out of it when Kyoshiro and Yumiko literally threw him down from the academy roof saying that he needs to cheer up. The result was another prank war, but Naruto was never depressed after that.

Shin seems to have some kind of addiction to ridiculing them. It was because 'Mr. Prince' had ordered that the three were often treated poorly.

Kyoshiro hated the way Shin stared at Yumiko and Naruto. He knew that Shin would automatically hate them because Naruto had the divine chakra which was inherently against the chakra that Shin contained, it was just instinct for them to be wary of each other and as both Yumiko and Kyoshiro are close to Naruto, he would hate them as well.

Kyoshiro could tell that Shin hated him, but it wasn't exactly 'hatred' that he felt from Shin whenever he was staring at either of his friends. It was another disgusting emotion that should not be present in a child so young. At first he had thought it was the chakra corrupting him, but Inari had promised that the chakra will not affect the boy's mind what so ever. Kyoshiro was protective of both of them when ever Shin was around. Naruto too felt the emotion radiating off of Shin, and it made his skin crawl.

The trio often skipped class because either they were bored, or Shin was staring at them. Iruka had been worried at first and had scolded them about skipping classes but when the trio scored perfect marks in all the exams despite not attending classes, he decided to let them be. But even though all three scored perfect scores and were often the top three, they never allowed Iruka to announce that fact and the entire class believed that they were useless.

Well those opinions will change soon.

* * *

 ** _i'll try better on the next chapter._**

 _ **See ya later...**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.**_

 _ **the editing was not done thoroughly so if make any mistakes i apologize.**_

 **INARI BLESSED**

 **Chapter 6**

Naruto, Yumiko and Kyoshiro sat at the back of the class. No one had noticed them yet, except Iruka. They had arrived right when Iruka came in, and sat in the back after a quick nod to Iruka.

The trio were wondering who their teacher will be. They knew they would pass and Hiruzen had said that they would be placed on the same team as well. The only thing they weren't sure of was who their teacher will be.

Iruka had finished his speech and was calling the names of the students to take the exam. The written test was easy and all three of them made sure that they had full marks. It was when everyone went out for weapons throwing that the other students really saw the trio. Nearly all of their eyes bulged, the trio was quite good looking. Most people couldn't stop ogling.

Naruto sighed, having gotten used to these emotions whenever they had to go in public.

"So the losers are back." Kiba Inazuka said arrogantly, he had gotten over the surprise at seeing the three. Naruto was the one who was almost unrecognizable, how that midget had grown into this, they could only guess. And with the whisker marks almost invisible, it was hard to recognize him.

The only answer he got was a scoff from Naruto, a fanged smirk from Kyoshiro and an indifferent look from Yumiko.

Shin stared at the three, as always Kyoshiro was with Naruto and Yumiko. Whenever shin saw them, that bastard was with them, but that didn't stop him from ogling the objects of his desire. The power he could always feel from Naruto was now absent, which confused him. (Naruto had made a seal so that none of their chakra could be sensed by those except a select few people)

Kyoshiro looked at Shin with a cool glare that clearly said to back off. Shin growled.

But Iruka interrupted by starting calling names. One by one each of them went and did the weapon throwing. So far Sasuke and Shin had highest marks, the only girl with decent marks was Hinata, but even that was not much.

Shin smirked at Kyoshiro, who in turn just ignored him. Finally when it came to the trio, most people had their jaws on the ground as all three of them scored perfect marks. They did nothing flashy but their scores were surprising enough.

"Sensei, there something wrong, those three cheated. There's no way those losers could beat Shin sama." Sakura Haruno an annoying pink midget screeched.

"Geez Haruno, stop screeching. Some of us have sensitive ears." Kyoshiro said annoyed, her screeching hadn't bothered him due to the seal Naruto had designed, but it was worth seeing the look on pinky's face.

"You… you cheater." Pinky screeched again.

"Yeah sensei, they cheated…" the rest of the Shin fan club (SFC) agreed.

Naruto was the one who answered, "So what you are saying is that we cheated to get perfect scores in weapon throwing, how exactly we cheated?"

"We don't know, but you did." Ino Yamanaka said in her great wisdom.

"That means that you are accusing us without any evidence." Yumiko drawled. "Sensei, did you see us cheat?"

Iruka and the other white haired chunin; Mizuki, who was with him, shook their head in negative.

"So there is no evidence at all." Kyoshiro said.

"But you did." Pinky again.

"If we did, then we must be quite the ninjas, to be able to cheat in front of two academy instructors who are chunin and fifty academy students without leaving any evidence behind. Go find the evidence pinky or just admit that we are too good either way." Naruto said smirking.

"Alright that's enough." Iruka cut in and stopped the problem before it got too bad.

Next was the ninjutsu portion. They aced it. And walked out with their head bands, Naruto winked at Sakura as he passed by, earning a growl in return.

* * *

"Let's go to Ichiraku and celebrate." Naruto said grinning.

"Sure. But I want Sushi later." Yumiko said.

"And tofu." Kyoshiro added.

All three of them sat inside the Ichiraku ramen shop after placing their order, this was the only place they would often visit.

"Hey boys!" Ayame, the ramen chef's daughter called out.

"I am a girl." Yumiko mumbled, no matter how many times they argued Ayame always calls her a boy just to tease her.

"So you are ninjas now huh!" Ayame said happily.

"Yup! And we are soon going to surpass the Sannin." Naruto said grinning.

"Well good luck with that, I'll get your orders."

As Ayame left, Naruto turned serious.

"Did you do it?" Naruto asked Kyoshiro who scoffed.

"Who do you take me for? Yes I placed the tracker on that white haired bastard when you two made the distraction."

"So he is going to act today huh." Yumiko asked thoughtfully.

"Ever since that bastard started teaching at the academy, I had gotten a bad feeling from him. He is incredibly nervous today; he is going to act soon. It may not even be anything serious, but better safe than sorry." Naruto said.

"Does the hokage know yet?"

"Not yet. We don't have anything solid to start disturbing the hokage." Kyoshiro shrugged.

"The whole village seems busy." Yumiko mumbled, "Do you think they placed the graduation on their 'hero's birthday on purpose?"

Naruto scoffed, "With these people, it is a possibility. And the party provides enough distraction for Mizuki to do what he wishes."

"I feel bad for the other one…" Kyoshiro said. Naruto understood who Kyoshiro was talking about. 'Sasuke Uchiha' the hero's brother.

"A shame really. That kid has a lot of potential and he waste it all being broody."

"We can't blame him when everyone who used to put him in a high pedestal suddenly acts as if he is not worth it." Yumiko said.

"That's no reason for him to be like that. He still has a loving mother and older brother (Itachi) yet he chooses to ignore them." Naruto said.

Their further conversation was interrupted when Ayame arrived with their food.

They gladly dug into the food.

* * *

"He is going to get here in 5 minutes." Kyoshiro said as he used shape shifting to change into a tree branch. Naruto and Yumiko nodded at each other and Naruto disappeared into the foliage.

Mizuki didn't know how it happened, but one moment he was sailing through the tree branches with the forbidden scroll and the next, a 'tree branch' had tripped him and he had fallen face first into the ground. He swears that he heard the tree branch snicker.

'The excitement must have got to my head' he thought.

"Sensei, what are you doing here?"

Mizuki surprised by the new comer, turned and saw a tired looking Yumiko standing looking at him with a curious expression. She had dirt covering her attire which was ripped in several places and sweat dribbling down her forehead. She looks delicious, the pervert thought idly.

Naruto was doing his best in his new found ability; to boost the emotions of others. He made sure to boost the self confidence Mizuki had, into over confidence and arrogance, he didn't really had to do anything with the lust that was growing on its own. 'Perverted pedophile' he thought disgusted.

'I have time. It's not like anyone knows that the scroll is missing, I made sure of that. I have time so, why not indulge a little?' Mizuki stood up and looked at Yumiko in such a way that it made her shiver in disgust.

"Well I was just going somewhere." Mizuki said as he stepped towards the girl.

"Sensei… Is that the forbidden scroll?" Yumiko asked wide eyed.

"So you recognized it, huh?" Mizuki gave a dark chuckle; he knew the girl was starting to get it.

"But but, what are you doing with it?" Yumiko asked alarmed.

"Oh, I was just going to give it to Orochimaru so that he would make me his right hand man, am sick and tired of Konoha." He chuckled as he stepped forward. He saw the fear in the quivering girl's eyes. Before she had time to act, he jumped forward and had her pinned her against the tree.

"Let me go you bastard!"

"Is that the way to treat your sensei, Yumiko chan? Now I'll have to punish you." Mizuki bought his lips down on her lips in a bruising kiss. His other hand roamed the body of the terrorized girl and he began to…

"Well that was easy." Naruto said looking at the frozen form of Mizuki, the effect of Yumiko's genjutsu.

"Disgusting pig!" Yumiko growled, she could guess what he was seeing inside the genjutsu.

Kyoshiro knocked him out and tied him up.

"We should get back to the hokage and report."

"Yeah… let's go." Naruto said, but a voice from behind him made him freeze,

"Well that was quite impressive for fresh genin." The mysterious male voice said with a chuckle.

Naruto didn't even get a chance to turn back before a powerful kick to his back sent him through a tree.

"Naru!" cried Yumiko. While Kyoshiro stood frozen as he saw the masked man before him. It was him, the same masked Uchiha that had released him from Kushina. The orange swirl mask with only a single sharingan eye mocked him.

He was snapped out of it, when the masked man appeared before him and delivered a powerful kick to his abdomen, he suffered the same fate as Naruto.

Yumiko engaged the man in a taijutsu match without wasting a moment. But the man was too powerful for her to handle, she soon joined her friends. Yumiko coughed out blood as she was slammed into the tree, at least a few bones were broken. As soon as the man kicked the girl away, white chakra chains shot out from behind him and he jumped away from them gracefully.

"Oooh… that seems familiar." The man said in fake curiosity, "Ah… I get it. You are Naruto Uzumaki, or should I say Namikaze?"

The slight pause that Naruto gave was enough for the man as he passed through the chains like a ghost and took a hold of Naruto's neck. Naruto chocked, blood was still flowing from the wound he received when he had crashed into the tree. Out of nowhere, he got a kunai and buried it into Naruto's stomach. Naruto let out a strangled cry.

"Your father and mother caused me a lot of trouble…" the man giggled.

Kyoshiro tried to kick the man from behind, but he simply took a hold of the extended leg and used it to slam the red head into the ground and again into a tree. But before he could do more, a kunai whizzed past his hand forcing him to drop Kyoshiro. Naruto, who was hanging from the man's arm, kicked him in the face so that he too was released. He then removed the Kunai, the skin healed, stopping the bleeding, but for some reason, his healing had became too slow for his liking. He could also feel a huge and rapid drain in his chakra for some unknown reason, well suffice to say, they were in deep shit.

The trio regrouped and took the scroll, the man stood there watching as the three battered children stood trying to protect the scroll, even though they knew he wasn't exactly interested in the scroll alone. The scroll disappeared as Naruto sealed it within a storage seal in his palm, in the blink of an eye. The man kept watching the trio with interest, will they run or will they fight? Both options were not in their favor.

Yumiko gave a nod to the boys; they will have to wait till reinforcements arrived. So stalling and trying to survive was the only thing they could do, clearly the man was beyond them in every way.

Kyoshiro unsealed Senshi and Tamashi. Yumiko and Naruto began rapidly going through the hand signs. Kyoshiro rushed forward to fight the man, but even he knew it was useless, the swords would simply pass through him. But to his immense surprise, the seals on the two Katana glowed as they passed through the man. Kyoshiro smirked when he understood what was happening. The man felt his chakra reserves draining rapidly as each cut passed through him, that's when he noticed the seals; 'annoying Uzumaki seals' he deduced. After that he avoided each cut, but his chakra reserves had taken a major drain. He growled as he side stepped another slash and then delivered a devastating upper cut to Kyoshiro.

Kyoshiro was thrown aside but then only the man saw the dragon made of intense red flames heading towards him, he stood there not bothering to dodge, the attack would just pass through him anyway, but to his and everyone else's surprise the dragon hit him dead on.

Blinking out of their surprise, they used the opportunity presented to them and escaped sealing Mizuki inside a scroll as well. The masked man laid there among the flames, he wasn't dead, that much was sure and they didn't want to be anywhere near when he recovered.

* * *

 **Earlier that evening…**

Sasuke stood bored while getting congratulated by the nobles and villagers who came to the party. The party was not even meant for him even though it was his birthday as well; he knew that. Everyone present here had came to see his hero of a twin brother. Though Fugaku would never say it, this party meant for Shin and Shin alone, but it would reflect badly on the Uchiha name should Sasuke be absent. So Sasuke could not skip this even if he dearly wanted to. So far the only ones paying attention to him were the people who couldn't get Shin's attention, so had to settle for Sasuke instead. This fact was clearly annoying and the smug smirk on Shin's face was even more annoying.

His mother who was standing with Fugaku and greeting the guests; as expected of the Uchiha matriarch, looked at him apologetically every time she got a chance, unlike Fugaku who ignored his third child altogether. And even though Sasuke would never admit it to anyone; to not even himself; the small glances sent by his mother meant more than anything his father could ever provide.

Sasuke looked around, there was no one left to arrive. He had greeted every important guest who had arrived. So it was time for a strategic retreat; unless he wanted to create a scene by using a fire jutsu on that ass of a brother of his. So he went to his father and mother and carefully excused himself, saying that he was too tired. Fugaku didn't care, but Mikoto looked at him concerned, but she understood her son's need to get out, so didn't delay him by any unnecessary questions and simply nodded with a small sad smile.

* * *

Sasuke went straight to a training ground, far enough so that none of the guests or any other Uchiha see him there.

His careful planning was foiled when he came face to face with another Uchiha; which just so happens to be Shisui.

"Oi, squirt, what are you doing here?" Shisui asked surprised.

"Me? Why are you here? Itachi said that he and you had an anbu mission today, so then what are you doing here?" Sasuke asked with eyes narrowed.

"The same thing you are doing, little brother." Itachi's voice from the nearby tree made him jump in surprise.

"You are here too?! Wait does that mean you came here so that you don't have to use a fire ball on Shin's ass?" Sasuke asked amused.

Shisui chuckled; even Itachi cracked a smile, "Not exactly, but almost same reason."

"There was no anbu mission, was there? You used that as a reason to skip the stupid party." Sasuke accused with a barely noticeable pout; but it was still there. "Why didn't you get me out of there too?" whining was allowed when the Uchiha was tired, irritated and cranky.

Shisui outright laughed, "Well we could hardly say that you have an anbu mission. And is that the great Sasuke Uchiha whining?"

Sasuke gave a grade a Uchiha glare to Shisui, who shrugged it off, having gotten used to an even higher level glares from the boy's older brother.

"You sure seem cranky on your birthday…"

"Sasuke, I remember that I have yet to give you any birthday gift, so here." Itachi said and tossed a scroll to Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at the scroll and back to his brother with wide eyes. "Is this…"

"Yes, the summoning contract for ravens. I obtained it several years back, on a mission. I was the first to sign the contract and now I wish to teach it to you."

Sasuke grinned (yes. He, the almighty Sasuke Uchiha grinned, but who cares when he just got a summoning contract before his annoying twin).

"Wow, it's actually kind of disturbing seeing an Uchiha actually grinning." Shisui shuddered, but even that couldn't ruin Sasuke's mood. "Oi, Sasu chan don't you want to know what my gift is?" this got Sasuke's attention. Sasuke mentally prepared himself for yet another prank.

"I am going to teach you how to use a tanto."

"Huh!" Sasuke was dumbfounded; he was kind of expecting another prank. Shisui chuckled evilly, "Let the torture begin…"

Sasuke was dead tired. He could barely stand on his feet. When Shisui meant torture, he actually wasn't joking.

Sasuke had signed the summoning contract, but Itachi said that they will begin training to summon later. So Shisui taught him how to use a tanto. No one who knew Shisui would believe that the young man was a very demanding teacher. Sasuke found out the hard way, but even as he was slung on his older brother's shoulder, Sasuke had a content expression on his face. Best birthday ever.

"Here take this." Itachi gave him a chakra pill and some water, which Sasuke took gratefully.

Once he regained a bit of his energy, they began their trek back home, the party would've ended hours ago. As they neared the Uchiha compound, they knew something was wrong, a wave of trepidation flipped Sasuke's heart. Something was very wrong.

Itachi and Shisui were instantly on guard. They nodded at each other. Itachi made a shadow clone.

The clone took a hold of Sasuke, "Sasuke wait here." Itachi and Shisui entered the compound without giving him a chance to protest.

It only passed a second before he felt it. Like a veil being lifted, 'genjutsu' Sasuke's eyes widened. Then everything became unbearable, he could smell the blood even this far away from the compound.

'Mother… Itachi…' Sasuke felt worry grip his heart like never before.

The shadow clone gripped his shoulder in silent comfort, but there was frown marring the clone's face.

Itachi appeared beside them in a shunshin. In his hands was a blood drenched Mikoto.

"Mother…." Sasuke almost yelled. 'Not her, not her oh god please don't take her' his heart was pounding painfully as he gazed at the barely breathing form of his mother.

"Itachi what"

"Take her to the hospital, GO with the clone Sasuke and make sure she is fine. Now go." Itachi ordered before he once again vanished, probably to head back inside the compound.

The clone took a hold of his hand and the three of them vanished in a shunshin.

Everything after arriving at the hospital was a blur. The doctors rushed away with his mother, the Itachi clone held him as everything happened. Suddenly the clone dispelled in a puff of smoke. Shocked, Sasuke could only remember one thing, a clone dispelling meant that either the user dispelled it himself, was out of chakra, unconscious or…

And that was first time since he was four, which Sasuke cried. He cried praying that his brother was alright.

The anbu arrived carrying three people. His two brothers and Shisui, Sasuke recognized them and his blood run cold as he saw the bleeding gash on Itachi's chest. Shisui had his own tanto buried in his chest. Of the three, Shin was the one who seemed, better off, only unconscious it seemed. And Sasuke felt angry, why did that bastard be the one safe?

It felt like an eternity, that Sasuke sat in the hospital corridor. The hokage came and sat beside the frozen boy.

"Are there any other survivors?" Sasuke asked quietly. He heard from the doctors about the massacre.

"I am afraid not."

Sasuke didn't really care. The only ones he cared about were inside the hospital hanging between death and life.

A female doctor came out; a Hyuga; she had a professional expression on her face and Sasuke didn't want to listen to what she had to say anymore. That was the face they wore when they had a bad news.

"Hokage sama." She bowed.

"Akemi, how are they?"

So this was Hyuga Akemi, one with healing prowess second to Tsunade alone.

"We lost one of them Hokage sama." Sasuke thought that the entire hall could hear his heart beating.

The hokage sent a sad look at the boy, "Who?"

"Uchiha Shisui." She said with a hint of sadness. Sasuke couldn't suppress the shaking of his body, but he kept his head down, not letting anyone see his tears.

"The others?"

"Uchiha Itachi is stable, the bleeding has stopped and he will make it. But Uchiha Mikoto, she suffered too severe damage, hokage sama. Nothing can be said at the moment. We need to perform a surgery on her; the most positive outcome we will ever get is paralyzes."

Sasuke didn't know whether to be relieved or sad, but he was determined. He had heard something from the doctors earlier. Something he dismissed as nothing, but with his mother's life on the line, he was willing to go o a wild goose chase if it meant saving her.

"Can… can Naruto save her?"

Akemi's eyes widened at the question. She didn't bother asking how the boy knew, a lot of people knew about Naruto's healing prowess.

"It is a possibility, we can't be sure. But she will have more chance with Naruto here." Akemi said.

Sasuke stood up determined. He already lost Shisui, and he will be damned if he lost his mother as well.

"I will go find him." He said, but another voice cut in before he could leave.

"That won't be necessary." All of them turned to look at the new comer, which was none other than Kakashi himself holding an unconscious and still bleeding Naruto in his hand and behind him stood two other anbu, who were holding Yumiko and Kyoshiro. All three of them looked half dead.

* * *

 _ **hai. please review if you like the chapter. i am sad that i don't get much review and am sincerely grateful to those who does review. my brother is being an asshole as usual about the reviews.**_

 _ **also, i am quite a hurry to finish this, since my class begins next month and my mother threatened to skin me alive if i continue and it affects my studies. i think it's safer to stop writing till my studies are over. so i want to end the story soon. and i know some of you wanted sasuke bashing, but i am not gonna do it. i am not a fan of sasuke or anything, but the story kind of came out that way.**_

 _ **so yeah sorry to those who are disappointed.**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.**_

 _ **I apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes.**_

 _ **Enjoy...**_

* * *

 _ **INARI BLESSED**_

 **CHAPTER 7**

* * *

The first thing Naruto saw when he came to was the white ceiling.

'So we made it.' He thought relieved. He looked to the side and saw Kyoshiro and Yumiko, all of them made it. He sighed relieved.

The nurse who was tending to Kyoshiro turned to look at him. "Oh, you are awake. I'll inform the doctor." She said with a light smile.

"Umm, can you tell me the extent of our injuries?" Naruto asked.

"Well, when you got here you all were pretty banged up, but it looked worse than it really was. The main injury you had was the half healed wound on your stomach; luckily it didn't graze any major organs. But you were completely out of chakra."

"I was what?!" for the few people who knew about Naruto's chakra capacity, that statement was ridiculous. He had nine tails worth of chakra; for crying out loud. Chakra exhaustion was something he should never have to face.

"A severe case of chakra exhaustion." The nurse said confused as to what she said wrong. Naruto shook his head and, "Sorry, am still a bit disoriented. Please continue." The nurse nodded.

"Your friends had a couple of broken and bruised ribs. Other than that and a few bruises they were fine. We have healed all of you, there's nothing to worry about. It has only been an hour since you got here."

Naruto nodded.

Out of the three of them Naruto had the most chakra, yet he got a severe case of chakra exhaustion; how? He noticed the unusual drain in his chakra when he fought, but he thought that it was a technique that drained chakra from all three of them, clearly that was not the case. He needs to wait for the others to wake up.

He looked up when he heard a commotion from outside. To his immense surprise Sasuke burst through the door frantically, followed by the nurse who had just went outside to call the doctor.

"Dob… err Naruto"

This surprised Naruto, since when did Sasuke became so, polite to him? "Sasuke?" Naruto asked in a dubious tone.

"I need your help… pl...Pl...Please."

Okay that got Naruto's attention Sasuke Uchiha never pleads; never ever.

* * *

Two hours later, Akemi Hyuga exited the surgery with a sleepy exhausted Naruto in her arms. Whatever chakra he had regained had been spent during the surgery.

Naruto, who was half conscious, saw Sasuke who stood anxiously to know about his mother. Naruto looked at Sasuke and gave thumbs up with a tired but triumphant grin. Akemi also gave him a smile; the Uchiha didn't even try to hide his relieved smile and the happy tears.

* * *

A day later, the trio found themselves inside the Uzumaki household, along with Hiruzen, Kakashi and Jiraya.

"So what happened? I know that Mizuki couldn't even put a scratch on you." Jiraya started.

"You are right. It wasn't Mizuki." Yumiko said.

Then she described the entire fight to them, right up to the moment they retreated and passed out in front of Kakashi.

The three older men looked weary and grim.

"From what Itachi Uchiha has reported, it was the same masked man who massacred the Uchiha clan." The old hokage said grimly.

"There is one more thing." Kyoshiro said getting everyone's attention, "My memories from the time I've been… under control… is quite distorted. There are still large pieces I don't remember, but that masked man, when I saw him a memory was triggered. He was the same Uchiha who released me from Kushina twelve years ago."

Most of them were wide eyed.

"I somewhat remember him using the same phasing technique back then as well."

"This is troubling." Jiraya said grimly.

"And there are a lot of things that happened during the fight that still doesn't make sense… like why Naruto's chakra drained so fast? And then, the phasing ability of that guy, it didn't work during the last time." Yumiko muttered.

"We have a lot to think about…" Naruto said.

* * *

Naruto walked along the hospital corridor, he came here often either to visit Akemi or to help out at the hospital. The last two days he was still recovering from the chakra loss. Luckily there was still two days left for the day of team announcement.

As he turned a corner he locked eyes with a certain Uchiha. He was both surprised and pleased by the small nod of acknowledgement he got from Sasuke. It sounds strange, but the boy seems a lot less stuck up after his clan's near extinction. Maybe he realized what he had all along. He was still mourning for the death of his clans men, or perhaps only for Shisui.

"Hello Sasuke."

"Naruto." he greeted back politely. "I never got to properly thank you for what you did for mother."

"It's okay really. I really like your mother; she's a very kind woman. So I am happy that I got to help her. No need for any thanks."

Whether Sasuke knew it or not, his face softened and his lips quirked in a slight smile as he thought of the kind woman that is his mother.

"Still… I owe you one."

"Well, if you are so adamant… then treat me to some ramen sometime later and maybe a spar or two." Naruto said still smiling.

"You know… the students at the academy say a lot of things about the three of you, at first even I believed them… but now, I find myself disagreeing with all of them except one rumor." Sasuke said seriously, but Naruto could both see and sense the playful nature.

"Oh! And what's that?"

"That you are ramen obsessed pranksters."

Naruto cracked a wide grin, causing Sasuke to smile as well. "You should smile more ya know. Your mother would like that… and so would the others. See ya later, Sasuke. I'll come visit your mother after I go meet Akemi nesan."

Naruto left Sasuke with a wave.

Sasuke quickly hid the forming smile from prying eyes and went inside his mother's room.

* * *

"Naruto… you're here. How are you?" Akemi asked with a smile.

"I am fine nesan. The others are fine as well."

"Good. I was going to come and check on you later. Now… are you ready for today's lesson?"

* * *

True to his words Naruto went to see Mikoto that evening. She truly was a pleasant woman, though he never actually got the chance of properly meeting her. Mikoto was happy that he came to visit her; she was shocked that Naruto knew about Kushina being his mother. She was surprised that the boy had no resentment towards her because she never visited him despite being his mother's best friend. The boy had inherited his mother's kind heart, she mused.

The only reason she hadn't visited him even when she knew he was suffering was because of Fugaku. He had prevented her from doing a lot of things in life. Most of her regrets had risen from having to obey him, in fact now with her husband dead, as cruel as it sounded, she felt happy. Happy and free, for the first time since her marriage. After Naruto left she had a lot to think about.

Soon, Itachi would become clan head; the Uchiha clan never gave any position of power to woman. So she would not become clan head. That was fine; her son Itachi was a good choice for a clan head. The Uchiha clan would prosper under him.

To be honest had this happened a few years ago, she wouldn't have been surprised. The clan had been planning a coup six years ago. She knew the hokage was aware. It was only a matter of time before the clan was exterminated by the hokage's ninjas for the safety of the village. Back then her only fear was for the children in the clan. But the hokage is a fair man, he would never harm children. That was when a golden opportunity was presented in form of the resealing.

It was the genius idea of some stupid clan member to turn one of her children in to a jinchuuriki; she was furious but had no say in it. It was not the fact that she hated jinchuuriki or anything, in fact her best friend had been a jinchuuriki and she had known all along. It was the fact that the clan intended to use her child as a weapon that didn't sit well with her. There were two options in front of the clan. Either Sasuke or Shin.

Sad as it is, the only reason they chose Shin was because he was expendable. The survival chance of the new jinchuuriki was very low, and Sasuke was a growing prodigy, his naturally strong chakra said he would have a sharingan of greater potential and he was a growing prodigy. If the resealing failed, they could not lose Sasuke and even if the beast broke free, the combined power of all their sharingan can subdue it, or that was what the fools believed, she knew better. The number of sharingan mattered not, if none had the advanced stage of it. It was this arrogant and power hungry approach that caused her to hide her own Mangekyo; the result of having to kill her traitorous sensei during a mission; from them.

She hoped and prayed that the hokage doesn't allow Shin to become the jinchuuriki. But Hiruzen had been out of choice. From what she heard, none other had stepped forward to become a jinchuuriki and her son had been too determined to prove himself to his father to back down. Hiruzen could not have forced any other to give up their child when one was willing to become the jinchuuriki. Danzo and the old crones had supported it and she knew why. A jinchuuriki with sharingan meant a jinchuuriki who could attain full control of the bijuu chakra with time. The lull of such a powerful weapon might have been too much. Danzo's followers and the civilians readily agreed, out voting the opposition (if there was any).

Things that occurred after Shin became jinchuuriki were out of her hand, but a lot of good things came out of it. She had been horrified when her 'husband' announced her son's jinchuuriki status to the whole village. But her fears were put to ease when the people treated him as a hero, and even if anyone had any problem with her son, a few factors kept them subdued. The fact that the death of her child meant the release of Kyubi was a fact that saved his life. People believed Shin would never be influenced by the beast due to the sharingan, also the fact that no one in their right mind would mess with the Uchiha; a powerful founding clan, also helped her son become the hero instead of a pariah. The fact that Naruto survived was icing on the cake.

The coup was later discarded, because the Uchiha clan got the much needed recognition from the villagers after the resealing. Whether it was fear that the Uchiha now had the power of a demon, or gratitude that the Uchiha had prevented the fate of being a jinchuuriki from any of their (the civilian's) children; she didn't know. But the village treated the Uchiha with rightful recognition and not isolation.

But Fugaku then started ignoring her other two children. Instead of sadness she was relieved; Itachi would be much more relaxed without his father's pestering. And Sasuke kun would be away from Fugaku's influence. Shin… she had nothing to do with him… even before, he was a bitter child. She used to pay a lot of attention to him to ease his pain of being ignored by his father for his prodigy brothers, but Shin was never happy. Once he became jinchuuriki however, he began treating her and Sasuke (Itachi was out of his reach) like trash and no one but Itachi cared. Maybe now that Fugaku is gone, her baby could see the light, she hoped even though she knew it was too late.

She had to visit the grave once she could move properly. She didn't care about the adults who died (most of them deserved it); the only ones she cared to pray for were the children. She had much to do once she got out of the hospital. That included dealing with a certain ex-Hyuga.

* * *

Two days later

The trio once again found themselves at the academy, waiting for the team announcements. Naruto kept fidgeting with a kunai, while Kyoshiro and Yumiko were engrossed in two scrolls.

To everyone's surprise the Uchiha twins were also present; after all it had been only a week since their family was murdered.

Iruka came in with a proud smile. He then gave some speech about ninja life, responsibility and will of fire and stuff. Then came the team announcements.

"Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Shin Uchiha and Sakura Haruno." There was shouting of true love and some insults thrown around. Sasuke was silently fuming in his seat; shin was also scowling in displeasure.

Yumiko was the only one who paid attention to other teams, but the boys only cared to pay attention when their team was called.

"Team 11: Naruto Uzumaki, Yumiko Uzumaki and Kyoshiro Kazama." This bought on a new set of murmurs.

Most were bothered about how Yumiko became an Uzumaki. While Kiba who was jealous about a girl like Yumiko hanging with the losers and getting 'married' to the same loser proclaimed that the dead lasts were put together. Iruka was quick correct the dog lover.

"No Kiba. Those three are the top three students with perfect scores in every test. Naruto and Kyoshiro have tied for the Rookie of the year and Yumiko is the Kunoichi of the year."

This caused almost everyone to look at the three of them in surprise. There were many protests of cheating, that was promptly ignored by the trio and Iruka.

Iruka told them to wait for their sensei and left after wishing them luck.

As soon as Iruka left murmurs broke out, an annoyed Kiba jumped out of his seat and was about to go 'talk' with Kyoshiro and Naruto, when a red eyed raven haired jonin kunoichi entered the class room grabbing their attention. following her another jonin entered, this time a male with black hair and beard along with deep brown eyes and a cigar dangling between his lips.

"I am Kurenai Yuuhi and I am sensei of team 8. Team 8, please follow me." The red eyed woman said and walked outside.

"Team 10, with me." The smoker drawled and followed Kurenai out the door.

Team 7 and 11 remained seated. Shin was softly growling to himself about not being the rookie of year and having to be put on a team with his useless brother and pink haired thing.

A slight breeze of wind was all they felt. Yumiko's head snapped up as she sensed a very small flicker of chakra from an unknown source within the classroom. Naruto and Kyoshiro followed her example.

There at the centre of the room was a beautiful woman.

She had black hair with purple highlights that reached past her waist in long thick strands with small unruly bangs framing her forehead. Her eyes deep royal blue colour and contained a certain warmth and she had the body of a goddess. Her ruby red lips were curled in a gentle and pleasent smile as she observed the three that was now staring at her. She was wearing a black dress shirt with the top two buttons open revealing a little of her amazing cleavage and khaki pants. She also had a pair of black high heeled shoes on. There were no visible weapons (although that did nothing to fool the trio, as they themselves kept all weapon including kunai hidden in the multiple storage seals along their arms). If it wasn't for the fore head protector with the leaf insignia that was tied snuggly in her waist like a belt, they would not have taken her for a ninja, they couldn't feel any chakra from the woman at all, so they weren't as easily fooled.

Team 7 was yet to notice the extra presence in the room.

"Training ground 29" the woman said looking directly at the trio and by the time team 7 looked up, she had vanished like a ghost.

Yumiko, Naruto and Kyoshiro looked at each other and nodded, and then they vanished in a shunshin.

"Who said that?" Sakura said and looked around. "Hey! They are gone."

Shin and Sasuke looked back to see that team 11 had vanished.

* * *

The appeared a little away from training ground 29, it was an isolated training ground close to the forests and had a small stream passing through it. They walked the rest of the way to the training ground.

"She could be a stealth specialist… I never felt her chakra." Yumiko said thoughtfully. Among the three Yumiko was the best sensor there is. Her sensing abilities were far beyond ordinary, they believed that her Hyuga gene must have expressed in such a way instead of the byakugan. And when she had been blood adopted in to the Uzumaki clan, her sensing ability had gone of charts, after all the Uzumaki were great sensors naturally.

"She's good… that shunshin she used… there was no sound, no smoke, nothing. She appeared and disappeared like a ghost. that takes alot of chakra control." Naruto said in amazement.

"It's perfect for stealth. Her dressing is also very strange for a shinobi… those clothes didn't look they would allow much flexibility, or any flexibility for that matter. They looked too restricting and the material doesn't look much durable either…" Kyoshiro suggested.

"She would easily pass for a civilian with that appearance… if it wasn't for the fact that we could sense no chakra at all, even civilians have little chakra and the absence of any chakra at all, would cause suspicion."

"The ability to suppress chakra at its entirety is amazing. She could give a Hyuga a run for his money."

They noticed that they had already reached the training field. The woman was sitting at the bank of the stream with her legs in the running water. Her shoes were placed beside her. She turned to look at them with a quiet smile, "The conclusions you made are impressive for fresh genin."

They were surprised that she heard what they talked about.

"I already know everything about you and I don't feel like talking about myself to you. Only that my name is Uzume Suiren. You may call me Uzume sensei." She had a bright smile on her face, a smile fitting for one named after the goddess of joy. "Now come join me." She called out to them. She looked like a nice woman.

They looked at each other quizzically and then shrugged and took of their sandals before sitting beside her with their feet in the water.

The trio had no idea what to say, but Uzume sensei started talking still with that gentle smile.

"I know that your team work is quite proficient, I heard a lot from the hokage… so why don't you show me how good it is…" with that she jumbed out of the water and on to a the other side of the bank and three three kunai at them, even before they could blink. they tried to dodge by jumbing out of the water as well, but tendrils of water kept them trapped where they sat. there was no time for a shunshin, the kunai came right in front of their face and exploded in to neon pink paint and glitter, covering all three completely.

They looked at their sensei in confusion and at that moment, the didn't think that her smile was quite so pleasent.

What followed; was undeniably, a very one sided 'battle'.

We find Naruto bound and gagged on the ground with Uzume sitting on top of him with that same pleasant smile which was honestly starting to creep out the trio. Kyoshiro was hanging upside down from a tree branch with both ankles tied firmly to the branch, it wouldn't have been too bad had he been able to use chakra or didn't have a boulder tied to each hand. Yumiko had her hands tied up and was buried up to her waist in mud. all three still pink with sparkles, and add to the humiliation Uzume smiling and braiding Naruto's long, currently pink, hair.

The crazy woman had booby trapped the entire training ground before they came. This was quite damaging to their pride as the prank masters.

Yumiko stood up (much to Naruto's relief). "You all look very comfortable…" she giggled earning three furious and desperate glares. Then her grin turned positively evil; "This is retribution you brats… for all the times you pranked the anbu HQ" she announced with an evil laughter.

The trio felt like whimpering, what happened to the gentle woman they saw earlier?

"YOU! You three did an unforgivable crime to me by your prank. That stupid prank of yours made me lose my precious pocky and I never forgive you for that…"

They had no idea what to do other than sweat drop. Pocky? Really?

"Mmmh mmm hmm"

"What?" Uzume was broken out of her evil scientist mode by the muffled words. She took off the tape on Naruto's mouth none too gently earning a wince and glare.

"I said I apologize for our mistake and…"

"Apologies won't get you anywhere." She cut him off and was about to tape his mouth again when he frantically said,

"I'll buy you pocky." This caught her interest.

"Yeah… we will buy you pocky as an apology… for a whole week." Yumiko added. It would be highly dangerous (and humiliating) for them if the crazy bitch kept attacking them every chance she got.

"We are going to be the best of friends…" the pleasant smile was back and they were too afraid to even creep out.

Thirty minutes later they were all cleaned and untied. Naruto was frantically trying to get his hair out of the multiple braids.

"Now, its time for a proper introduction, since I decided that I like you and that you are going to continue as my students. You already know my name. My likes are pocky, pranking, teaching brats a lesson, getting on peoples nerves and playing matchmaker. Oh, I also am a diehard fan of yaoi. (This caused Yumiko to squeal loudly in approval and for the two nervous boys to edge away from the creepy women.) My hobbies are pretty much the same as my likes. My dislikes are people who threatens my pocky (a well placed glare), stuck up people who make fun of me and my likes, yaoi haters (Hey if they don't like it, they don't have to diss it, she added as an afterthought.) my dream is to… I really don't have one.

I know you already guessed it, I was in anbu. I specialize in infiltration and stealth and genjutsu. I have a bloodline similar to the Uzumaki chakra manipulation, but I am not related to Uzumaki. My element happens to be water, lightning and wind."

They nodded in amazement.

"Our training starts tomorrow. Be here at 5 AM tomorrow. In case you want to know, I set 200 traps to cover the entire training ground, and surprisingly, you only triggered 94 of them and only got caught in 23 of them. This is quite good, considering trap making is also one of my strong points."

The three of them were staring wide eyed at their sensei.

"Now I have to go report to the hokage and I leave it up to you to clean the training ground. Disable the traps and remove them."

They nodded slightly annoyed and then she added with a smile.

"You will make one fine team kids. Oh and… no shadow clones." With that she vanished missing two groans and a muttered 'fuck you crazy bitch!'.

* * *

"Team 11 passed with flying colors hokage sama."

The hokage looked confused but smiled any way, "That's good and all… but wasn't the tests are supposed to be tomorrow?"

This earned a blush and a sheepish chuckle, "I might've got a little too excited."

The hokage's only reaction was a chuckle.

"I have a lot of expectations from that team hokage sama."

"Me too, Suiren san…"

* * *

 _ **Well there you have it... so the sensei of the team is an oc as well.**_

 _ **Review if you like it.**_

 _ **and i was kind of wondering who to pair up with Yumiko and Uzume or if there should be any pairing at all... hmm alot to think about. so don't be mad if the next chapter is a little late.**_

 _ **well then bye guys...**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.**_

* * *

 **INARI BLESSED**

* * *

A shrill cry of an alarm rang across the clearing.

The occupants of the training ground paused in their activities and got ready to leave for the next mission.

"Wow it's already 12.3o!"Yumiko announced surprised.

Naruto finished the last of his cool down exercise. Kyoshiro silently sealed back both his Katana.

"Well, come on my minions, we will first have lunch and then go get a mission from hokage sama."Uzume announced with enthusiasm.

It has been like this for one and a half months. Ever since they passed Uzume's test, she had put much effort in their training. Uzume was a demanding sensei. This helped them improve, to much higher levels in the past one and half months.

On their first day of training itself, she had told them what she expected of them and what she planned to do with them.

 **FLASHBACK**

Naruto, Yumiko and Kyoshiro stood at training ground 29 at precisely 5 AM. Uzume who was resting on a tree branch, jumped down once her genin entered the training ground.

All three of them had been surprised; it surprised them how she managed to suppress her chakra to such levels. They knew she had massive amounts of chakra, from the time she fought them during the test.

"Good, you are here on time. Punctuality is something I value very much. Making someone wait without a valid reason is equal to disrespecting them."

All three nodded in agreement.

"From today onwards we will be doing missions and training as team 11. I have a lot of expectations from the three of you and I'll not settle for anything less. As you know in six months there is going to be another chunin exam. And I plan on entering you and making sure that you make yourselves chunin."

Uzume's stern expression grew pleasant as she received three determined nods. Although surprised, the three genin took the news happily.

"I know about your individual training and your current levels are very satisfactory… here is how our schedule goes, our training starts at five in the morning. The afternoons will be spent doing D rank missions. We will do two missions a day and I will try to make them a little more… interesting for you."

They knew what D rank missions are, they had seen many genin running around cleaning up after many of their pranks, so they were not that much enthusiastic… but seeing the look on their sensei's face, maybe normal D ranks won't be so bad…

Uzume had to hold in a sadistic chuckle seeing the apprehensive look on the face of her minions.

"I will be working with each of you separately. Monday mornings, training will be for Naruto only, Tuesdays for Yumiko and Wednesdays for Kyoshiro. On those days we will meet up at Himeko's restaurant for lunch. The rest of the mornings will be for team training. After the D ranks, I'll have you spar against each other. Then you can go home and train if you want, but I want you at full energy every morning, got it? And remember, each of you will have two days without morning training, I know you will use that time responsibly." She said remembering about Naruto's training at the hospital, Yumiko's taijutsu spars with Rock Lee and Kyoshiro's kenjutsu spars with Hayate and Yugao.

"Tomorrow is Monday and we will start this schedule from tomorrow onwards. For today you will be doing something else… Try not to trigger too many traps this time."

That was the last thing they heard before an explosion send them flying in to the woods and the awaiting traps…

 **FLASHNACK ENDS**

That afternoon team 11 had showed up at the hokage tower for missions with the three of them covered in red paint and white feathers, and with some twigs and leaves decorating their heads. Uzume refused to let them wash up or even use a henge. Every ninja who saw them on the streets or at the tower had a field day. The day the Prankster Devils got pranked. (Luckily they didn't know about the day before.)

Uzume was very polite and gentle whenever someone else was around; she only showed her creepy sadistic prankster side to them, although it shocked them the first time, they kind of got used to it.

She proved that she was a demanding sensei. During individual training days she worked with them on their weaknesses and sparred with them. During team trainings she mostly gave them, mock missions with the help of some other jonin or chunin who loses a bet with her or owes her a favor. The mock missions were done without any prior warning to increase their responses. She also covered the training ground with traps almost every day and changed training ground often to add variety to her traps. She had become the pranking god for the trio.

After a month, team 11 had become observant enough to escape every single trap with their pride unscathed.

She even used the D rank missions to train them. If it was a delivery mission she would double or even triple their gravity seals and make them travel without touching the ground. One time they were working on the roof of some old woman's house and she started throwing kunai at them. It was made of her chakra and would dissipate harmlessly if it touched anything other than her three 'minions' so as not to cause property damage.

All in all it was an interesting time.

Now they were going to get a C rank for being good minions as per Uzume.

"It seems that team 11 has completed their D rank requirements for requesting a C rank." The hokage said with a smile.

The team looked quite proud of themselves. They had completed 72 D rank missions, while suffering from Uzume's sadistic quirks; this was a matter of pride itself.

Iruka gave them a small smile; he had no doubt about the abilities of this particular team. After all, he himself had been part of one of their mock missions. (Iruka would never forget the beating he got from the three of them while he was disguised as an enemy ninja.)

Iruka handed a C rank scroll to the smiling hokage.

"It's an escort mission to the land of waves. Bring in the client."

The client that came in was not really up to their expectations.

"These are the ninjas that are supposed to protect me? I asked for ninjas, not brats. And that woman looks too kind to actually be a ninja."

Their annoyance at the first sentence was cut off by the drunkard's last statement. Naruto scoffed before looking away, while Yumiko shook her head. Kyoshiro looked amused.

"I suggest that you not insult my team Tazuna san. They are competent to complete this mission successfully."

Uzume said with a sweet smile that her minions had come to fear. But it didn't help to change the drunkard's opinion of her. So the man just scoffed.

"Well I am the super bridge builder Tazuna; you brats should protect me with your lives."

If Uzume was angry, she was very good at hiding it, so she just smiled. For some reason, Naruto had a bad feeling about this. The drunkard's emotions were all over the place, but he could not sense any ill intent towards any of them, aside from the fact that the man was very nervous and scared behind his boisterous exterior. The man was not harmful; at least not intentionally.

"Is something wrong?" Kyoshiro asked Naruto quietly.

"Nothing yet."

The conversation was caught by both Yumiko and Uzume. Yumiko frowned slightly.

* * *

Naruto was walking to the gate to meet up with his sensei and team. Kyoshiro had gone to get some supplies that he was lacking. Yumiko had gone to meet up with Lee and tell him that she won't be available for the spars. The three of them had agreed to meet up at the gate in time for the mission. They still had about fifteen minutes left before the mission starts. So he was taking a leisurely walk towards the gate.

He smiled when he sensed a familiar presence approaching. He may not be as good as Yumiko, but he was still a good sensor.

"Hello Aunt Mikoto." He greeted the woman with a smile. He had started calling her that after the woman requested it, saying that Kushina was like her sister and she had every right to be an aunt.

He often visited the woman when she was in the hospital. His friends visited her a few times as well and needless to say, they got along very well.

They had stopped visiting her after she was moved to the Uchiha compound to prevent running in to Shin. Other than him all remaining Uchiha enjoyed the company of the trio. Naruto could sense the anger boiling inside Shin every time he saw any of them together, so they stopped visiting so as not to cause any more family problems and since Mikoto had been confined to the bed and they had been busy with training, they didn't get much chance to meet each other.

"You look good Naru kun." Mikoto said with a soft smile.

"Did Sasuke let you out of house arrest?" Naruto asked with a chuckle. Ever since Mikoto was released from the hospital, Sasuke had gone ballistic every time she tried anything remotely strenuous.

"Well Akemi chan had to convince him that I am fully healed. I've been looking for you the past week but couldn't really get time to speak with you properly. Are you busy now?"

Naruto understood from the seriousness in the woman's voice that whatever she had to say, it was very important. If she hadn't been hiding her emotions so well, Naruto would've detected the traces of nervousness as well.

"Actually I have a C rank mission in about ten minutes. It will take us almost a month to get back."

"Oh!" Mikoto visibly deflated. "Well then I'll have to wait till you get back. Congratulations on your C rank mission, Naru kun, tell Kyo kun and Yumi chan as well."

"I will." Naruto smiled still confused by what Mikoto had to say that was so serious. Then to his immense surprise she pushed a scroll into his hand.

"The scroll contains some homemade food; you can enjoy it on your journey. Remember to share it with your friends okay?" Mikoto said with a wide smile.

"Oh I will Aunt Mikoto. Take care, bye." Naruto said and walked away as Mikoto left in the other direction.

As he neared the gate, Naruto could no longer sense the person that had been watching them when they were talking. So he casually took out the note that Mikoto had slipped into his pocket when she hugged him.

' _The scroll contains a secret I've held close for a long time. If I am incapacitated in anyway once you return, I want you to open the scroll, otherwise I want to tell you and your friends everything myself. It never hurts to have a backup plan. We are ninjas after all._ '

Naruto frowned and sealed the scroll into his wrist.

* * *

Kyoshiro reached just in time to see Naruto reach the gate as well. Yumiko came not a second later. Uzume was already there along with the client, who seemed to be drinking a lot more than yesterday and was more nervous as well.

"Right on time." Uzume announced with a smile when all of her team were present. "Let's begin shall we?"

* * *

"Mother, I am home." Sasuke said softly as he entered the house.

"Oh! You are early? Did Kakashi cancel training today?" Mikoto asked with a smile. But her smile turned upside down when her other son just went inside without even looking at her, Shin was becoming worse by the day and it scared her. He never talked to any of them anymore. At first he used to talk to Itachi, but only to ask (more like demand) for training. He was getting power hungry and revenge driven. Itachi had refused saying that Shin needed to change his attitude before getting anymore power. Since that day, Shin stopped talking to even Itachi. Mikoto tried several times to bring his son out of this destructive path, but her effort was brutally rejected every time by Shin.

Shin was disrespectful and hateful towards all three of them. Sasuke was not tolerant to Shin mistreating Mikoto and it ended in a clash between the brothers. They hate each other now. Mikoto tried and failed to bring her family together, it seemed that Fugaku had damaged Shin much more than she thought.

It didn't help that the civilian council suck up to Shin like leeches. Itachi, the current clan head and Mikoto were out of their limit of influence so they approached Sasuke and Shin. Among them Shin was more easily influenced and they took advantage of that. They gave Shin a high pedestal and encouraged his thirst for power. She knew that they were after the Uchiha fortune. For all the talk about the revival of the Uchiha clan, they just wanted their daughters (and even some males in Mikoto's case; proposals that had been brutally turned down by Itachi and physically attacked by Sasuke) married into the wealthy clan. Shin was the most susceptible target. Itachi was taking extra care to keep those civilians off of Shin's back, but without Shin's cooperation it was a difficult task.

"Mother, is that tomato pie?" Sasuke asked, effectively snapping Mikoto out of her depressive thoughts.

Mikoto couldn't really hold back her giggle at the sight of his pleased grin. She totally understood that the craving for tomato when she was pregnant with the twins was definitely from Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't even wait for a reply as he hurried to wash up and devour the tomato pie.

Mikoto laughed at her son's antics. She knew Sasuke was doing this to make her happy (and because he almost had a soul bond with tomatoes) and it was working.

As he ate the pie smiling, pleased with both the fact that his mother was smiling and with the fact that the pie was delicious, Sasuke told her how Kakashi blew them off again with some crazy excuse. He wouldn't really dare act like this in front of anyone except his mother, before the massacre; Shisui was the only one who could really make him act like a kid sometimes. Shisui's loss taught him a lot.

"Have you seen Naruto lately mother? I've been looking for a decent sparring partner and I can't find any of the three. Sparring with Sakura is so… I don't even know what to say." Sasuke growled.

Naruto, Yumiko and Kyoshiro had become his constant sparring partners over time. Sasuke's first lesson at humility was when he was beaten so thoroughly by someone he used to call a dobe. The four of them had become good friends after that.

"Oh, I saw Naruto this morning actually, but I don't think any of them would be able to spar with you." Mikoto said.

"What? Why not?"

"They have a C rank mission and will be out of the village for a month." Mikoto said.

"Huh? A c rank? They got a c rank? Why the hell are we stuck doing d ranks? Kakashi! that lazy pervert!" Sasuke was outraged.

Mikoto laughed at her son's antics. Sasuke sure knew how to lighten her day.

Behind the doorway Shin stood silently fuming. He left the room with a huff when he heard Itachi announcing his return.

He needed to get stronger and if the white haired sharingan thief was not going to train him, he will train himself. With that in mind he entered his father's study. No one else in the household ever used it any more. Only Shin did, and only he knew what all was kept inside here as well.

* * *

Yumiko was the first one who noticed; after all she was the sensor of the group. She had her eyes closed in concentration so as to increase her range and clarity of sensing. She signaled her teammates almost a mile before the actual confrontation.

Her teammates and sensei caught the signal.

"Strange…" Uzume muttered, what are ninjas doing here? This might not have anything to do with them at all. The ninjas ahead could be waiting for someone else or they could be rogues who took on stealing as a new profession.

She signaled her genin to not do anything unless provoked, with luck; they could avoid this without any unnecessary fight. Tazuna was blissfully unaware of this silent conversation.

"You got to be kidding me…" Naruto muttered exasperated as he saw the puddle.

Kyoshiro nodded in agreement. Yumiko only snickered with her eyes still closed.

"What are you talking about?" Tazuna asked confused.

"Nothing important." Uzume said with a sigh. So they must not be waiting for them after all. They could only be expecting to trap a civilian with such a poor trick. Then her eyes strayed to Tazuna. A moment of doubt.

"Tazuna san, did you tell anyone else about hiring ninjas?"

"Huh? Oh a few people at Wave knew, including my family." The man was still confused but was more nervous, which all four of them noticed.

"I see." Uzume said. If the unknown ninjas in the puddle were waiting for Tazuna, then either they didn't know about Tazuna hiring ninjas or they expected to catch three genin and a jonin with that trick. If the case was the latter, it would be insulting.

When the demon brothers jumped out of the puddle and ripped 'Uzume' into pieces, she had only one thought in mind, ' _this is insulting_.'

"One dow…" the guy didn't get to finish before a white chakra chain wrapped around him and promptly smashed him into a tree and knocked him unconscious.

The other brother who was surprised for a moment jumped into action seeing his brother incapacitated.

"You little bastard…" he screamed as he saw the blond haired boy controlling the chain. The boy had no time to react as Gozu used his full speed and sunk his poisoned claw into the blonde's stomach. The blond coughed out blood and his teammates let out a scream of despair. As the blonde fell, Gozu turned to the cowering girl and frozen red headed boy. Then he saw his target cowering behind the pathetic kids.

"Hand over the bridge builder or you will suffer the same fate as your friend and teacher." Gozu said arrogantly.

"So you were after Tazuna." A voice echoed around the clearing startling Gozu. His surroundings distorted and changed as Yumiko canceled her genjutsu.

Gozu found himself trapped within the white chakra chain coiled around him like a viper. His unconscious brother was in the same position. The blonde and his teacher who they had 'killed' stood there, smirking.

"Who sent you?" Uzume asked sweetly as she moved closer to Gozu and cupped his chin with her palm gently.

"You can do whatever you want, you bitch. But I won't talk."

"You think you are so smart don't you?" she kept on smiling. She didn't even sent chakra into her hand; she just shattered his jaw within her hand with brute strength alone. The sound of breaking bones didn't even make the three genin flinch, but Tazuna felt sick. Gozu's screams were cut short as he was knocked unconscious.

She turned to Tazuna, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Start talking, Tazuna san, or you just saw what could happen." Her sweet… sweet… smile now frightened the shit out of Tazuna.

Once Tazuna was done explaining the situation, team 11 contemplated on the next course of action.

"According to protocol…since Tazuna has lied about the mission parameters, we should abandon the mission due to betrayal on part of the client." Uzume said gravely. Tazuna started begging and crying.

"But," Naruto said getting all of their attention. "Tazuna didn't really know about Gato hiring ninjas, did you Tazuna?"

Tazuna vigorously shook his head. Yumiko and Kyoshiro quickly caught up with their friend's idea.

"So Tazuna didn't exactly lie… he just thought that Gato would hire only thugs. Right Tazuna?" the gleam in Naruto's eyes made Tazuna nod.

Uzume chuckled. "In that case, it would be disrespectable to abandon mission due to an 'unexpected' rise in difficulty. So the right course of action would be to send a message to the hokage and continue the mission."

"Not to mention the fact that Wave could become a great trading ally once the bridge is built." Kyoshiro added.

"Well that tips the scales in your favor, doesn't it Tazuna?" Uzume couldn't really stop her laugh.

"Thank you, thank you… my daughter and grandson will be eternally grateful to you."

"Yeah yeah let's just get going." Kyoshiro said with a smirk. Uzume nodded.

She bit her finger and did a quick chain of hand signs before slamming her palm on the ground. A puff of smoke appeared. Once the smoke cleared a dove with a plume of royal blue feathers became visible.

"What can I do for you, milady?" The dove asked.

"It talks!" Tazuna shouted. The dove gave the old man a curious look, Naruto and Yumiko snickered.

"Ran, I want you to relay a message to hokage sama." Uzume wrote a scroll and handed it to the dove now named Ran. Ran clutched the scroll in its talons.

"Of course milady." The dove said with a slight bow. "It's good to see you again young lord and lady." Ran greeted Naruto and Yumiko respectfully.

"Likewise Ran." Naruto answered with a chuckle. He had long ago given up on trying making the doves call them by their names. The doves were very respectful towards Uzume, and as her students they received the same respect.

"Lord Kyoshiro." Ran bowed deeply to Kyoshiro. Summons always automatically recognized spirit guardians as such and had deep respect towards them.

Kyoshiro nodded respectfully.

Ran spread his wings and disappeared from sight, taking off at high speeds towards Konoha.

Uzume sent a meaningful look towards Yumiko who nodded.

"Come on guys lets go." Yumiko said and they moved.

"Hey what about your sensei?" Tazuna asked seeing that Uzume stayed behind.

"She has some business to take care of." Naruto said calmly.

And Tazuna kept quiet after that.

Uzume joined them, 15 minutes later with a scowl. She made eye contact with her genin and nodded grimly, conveying a silent message. All of them tensed, their next fight is going to be troublesome. She then carefully sealed the scroll containing the head of the demon brothers in a seal on her belt.

* * *

Sandaime hokage; Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned as he read the message from Uzume.

The hokage thought about the situation for a while, he had no doubt about the abilities of team 11. The three genin were exceptionally talented and Uzume was one of his top anbu, the only reason she didn't become anbu commander was because she had refused. While that was the case, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Kakashi had requested a C rank for his team for the next day since none was available for the day.

Hiruzen nodded. Although back up was unnecessary, it might give team 7 the experience they sorely need.

* * *

 _ **this is it for now guys. hope you like it.**_

 _ **See ya later.**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.**_

 _ **Hello guys. I know I am rushing with the story a bit... but i really don't have a choice. I won't be able to continue the story for much longer, so I want to finish it soon as possible.**_

 _ **So i might make mistakes due to my rush. please inform me if you find any careless mistakes.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **Thank you for all those who reviewed.**_

* * *

 **INARI BLESSED**

* * *

The mist was thick as they walked closer to their destination.

"We are almost there." Tazuna said with a little bit of relief.

The genin and their jonin sensei never let their guards down.

As they neared the fog cleared and sparkling blue surface of the ocean came into view. It was the first time Naruto and Yumiko had seen the ocean. Despite being mature for their age a spark of child like excitement bubbled through them at the sight of the vast blue ocean.

"Someone is up ahead." Yumiko said.

"Oh, that's just our ride." Tazuna said as a man with his motorboat came into view.

"Good to see you again Tazuna. And you have bought the ninjas with you. Are you sure they are enough?" the boatman was a little disappointed at the sight of three children and a woman.

"I am more than confident in their abilities, Kenchi." Tazuna told the man with conviction.

Soon, they were traveling across the ocean through the boat.

"Is that the bridge Tazuna san? It is marvelous." Naruto said as the mist gave way to let them view the still unfinished structure.

"Yes, that is our hope." The old man said with pride.

"So it seems that you are good for something other than being a drunkard." Kyoshiro's comment caused Tazuna to drop his head. Yumiko snickered.

Once they reached the shore Kenchi left quickly after thanking the ninja for agreeing to help.

They walked forward once again. Tazuna was becoming much more relaxed and happy as his home neared.

"Sensei!" Yumiko's alarmed whisper caught their full attention. The team tensed knowing what was coming next.

"How many?" Uzume asked.

"Two." Yumiko answered.

"Their levels?" Kyoshiro asked as he prepared to unseal Senshi and Tamashi at moment's notice.

"One is high chunin. The other one is too adept at chakra suppressing, so I assume he/she is high jonin."

"That must be Zabuza and his mysterious accomplice that the demon brothers told me about. How long till we reach them?"

"If we keep this pace up, 30 minutes." They were yet to stop walking so as to prevent tipping their enemy off. "They seem to be waiting for us."

"Good. Everyone get ready, you know the plan." Uzume spoke quietly.

"Sensei, there is one more thing… one of the chakra signatures, it feels different."

"Different how?" Kyoshiro asked.

"It just… feels different, but I can't pinpoint what it is…" Yumiko's eye brows furrowed in concentration. "A bloodline! It's a bloodline… at least I think so."

"This is going to be trouble." Naruto muttered, "Can you identify it?"

"No. it's not one I have encountered before. But it is an elemental bloodline."

"It doesn't matter. We should stick with the plan. Sensei?" Kyoshiro commented.

"Kyoshiro's right. Stay on guard everyone." Uzume said.

* * *

"I have a mission for you." The hokage said without preamble as team 7 entered the office. "Kakashi requested for a C rank, but seeing as none was available, I couldn't give him one. But now I have one."

Sasuke, Sakura and even Shin looked at their sensei surprised. Sure, they had completed the necessary 31 D ranks to request a C, but Kakashi had told them that they need more experience. But there was no denying that they were excited at the prospect of a better mission than those chores.

"You are to provide back up to Team 11, they have run into some 'unexpected' trouble." The way the hokage said unexpected made them think that there was some sort of inside joke.

"Are they alright?" Kakashi and Sasuke asked worried, though only very very observant people could detect the concern, after all one was an Uchiha and the other was a carefree pervert.

"From the message they sent, none of them were injured. I am confident in their abilities." The hokage puffed out some smoke from his pipe.

"This is your mission scroll." The hokage tossed a scroll towards Kakashi who caught it.

"This scroll is to be given to Uzume Suiren." The hokage gave Kakashi another scroll, this one red with golden edges, an A rank mission, Kakashi knew.

The team bowed and left to pack for the journey.

* * *

"Everyone get down." Uzume shouted and pulled Tazuna down with her.

A giant sword struck the tree near them and imbedded itself in the tree.

"The Executioners blade." Uzume said staring at the sword.

"Oh so you recognize the sword, eh?" the man that appeared on top of the sword said in a smug voice.

"Zabuza Momochi." Zabuza chuckled at the panic he heard in Uzume's voice.

"You know me as well but I haven't heard of you… Well, I'll make this quick, hand over the bridge builder and I'll let you and your brats go. So what do-"

He didn't get to finish as a kunai was sent towards his head, courtesy of Uzume. He easily caught the kunai at the handle.

He looked at the kunai and the beautiful woman who threw it.

"That wasn't very-"he was again cut off as the kunai in his hand exploded in his face. Zabuza was send flying through the tree.

Uzume smirked. She mentally thanked Naruto for adding the explosion seals to the Kunai. It was a brilliant idea from Naruto. Writing the seals on the kunai, instead of tags. Ninjas wouldn't notice it until the explosion hits due to the absence of tags, unless you count sensors that could sense the minute amount of chakra in the kunai.

' _That bitch is going to pay'_ Zabuza thought as he got up. He had taken some damage due to the point blank explosion. But he had shielded himself using chakra at the last minute. He, the demon of the mist, would die rather than let some no name jonin walk over him like that. Thick chakra laced mist filled the area as Zabuza used his signature jutsu.

Uzume tensed, preparing for the battle. She couldn't even see her own team, but she knew that they were doing according to the plan.

Naruto nodded to Yumiko and Kyoshiro who was holding Senshi and Tamashi. Kyoshiro nodded and stepped towards Uzume while Naruto made four clones that stood around Tazuna and started a chain of hand signs.

' _ **Four point barrier seal'**_ the clones slammed their palm on the ground in front of them with a barely audible mumble. A violet shimmer appeared on the air before vanishing.

The barrier had been erected successfully, with Tazuna and Yumiko and the four clones holding the barrier, safely inside.

The real Naruto outside the barrier nodded to Yumiko inside and disappeared from sight.

Uzume went through a chain of hand signs at blind speed and announced her jutsu, " _ **Wind release: Great breakthrough**_ " a violent wave of wind passed through the clearing removing the mist. As the mist cleared Zabuza became visible as he descended on Tazuna with his Executioner's blade.

The blade hit the barrier. The barrier rippled a moment and repelled Zabuza's attack with enough force to dispel 'Zabuza' showing that he was a water clone.

Kyoshiro brought up Senshi and Tamashi in a cross to block a sword slash from Zabuza who appeared next to them. Zabuza was surprised to see the brat holding up against him. This team seems to be full of surprises. His mist was gone, this fight is getting annoying.

Zabuza had to jump back to avoid getting his head smashed by a chakra enhanced punch from Uzume. He quickly made a water clone to deal with the red haired brat while he dealt with the jonin.

Uzume narrowed her eyes and moved her hands in a familiar pattern. Deep blue chakra became visible and shaped into a dragon before it launched towards Zabuza at full speed. Zabuza tried to block, but in the end got hit by the dragon.

* * *

Haku was worried when Zabuza had gotten blasted with that explosion. He was thinking of joining in, when his senses went into override and he jumped away from the tree branch he was sitting in. A kunai hit the branch he previously occupied.

"Hello there." Announced the cheerful voice of his attacker.

Haku looked up and saw the blond boy from the team.

"Are you here for Zabuza hunter nin?"

That's when Haku remembered that he was still in his hunter nin attire. So he wordlessly nodded, surprised that the blond had sensed him.

"Then why are you not attacking him instead of sitting here and watching?"

"I was waiting for the right opportunity." Haku said softly, he didn't want to fight unnecessarily and if he kept up this charade he could help Zabuza if things get tricky.

"You are lying… I was hoping that you were an actual hunter nin and that I wouldn't have to fight you…" Naruto said sighing. He soon jumped back allowing the ice senbon to harmlessly hit the branch he was standing on.

"Ice release huh? Well that proves that you are not a hunter nin…"Naruto mumbled remembering about Mist's bloodline wars.

"I do not want to fight you, but I will do it for Zabuza sama, forgive me." Haku said before launching another batch of ice needles. The Naruto that the needles hit puffed out of existence.

Haku was thrown to the ground from the kick that was delivered to his back. He flipped during mid journey and sped through hand signs.

" _ **Ice release: Frostbite**_ " the icy mist that was released from the jutsu froze anything that it came in contact with. Naruto used a shunshin to get away from the jutsu and appeared where Haku was about to land and did his own hand seals.

" _ **Wind release: Gale Palm**_ " Haku had no time to react as the blasts of wind hit him dead on and he was sent flying into the clearing where Zabuza was fighting Uzume and Kyoshiro.

* * *

Zabuza was startled when Haku landed on the clearing. Uzume took the chance and sent another jutsu at Zabuza, " _ **Water release: Water Dragon**_ ". Zabuza narrowly avoided the dragon and moved forward to slash at her.

Uzume ducked under the slash and pressed her palm against Zabuza's stomach, " _ **Lightning release: Lightning Strike**_ ". Zabuza flew back and into the water after getting electrocuted.

* * *

Kyoshiro fighting against the Zabuza clone ducked under another slash and swiped Senshi at the clone. When the clone blocked Senshi, he spun around and slashed with Tamashi from the other side causing Zabuza to side step.

Kyoshiro jumped back and crossed his swords in front of him in an 'x' shape. Pouring chakra into the swords he called out, " _ **Retribution**_ ". Cross shaped blast of deep red energy exited the swords and hit the Zabuza clone, dispelling it instantly.

Kyoshiro then turned his attention to where Naruto was fighting Zabuza's accomplice. He then joined Naruto in fighting.

* * *

Kyoshiro attempted to hit Haku with a down ward slash, but Haku dodged it and threw more ice senbon at them. Both Naruto and Kyoshiro jumped out of the way of the needles.

"You are strong." Haku said, "I have no choice but to use that jutsu."

Kyoshiro and Naruto had no idea which jutsu he was talking about, but they knew it won't be good. But Haku had already done his part.

" _ **Demonic Ice Mirrors**_ " Haku called out the name of the jutsu.

A dome of ice mirrors was built around Kyoshiro and Naruto. Haku entered one of the mirrors.

They dodged the first hail of senbon but the next one that came from behind them was too fast for them to dodge. Haku was jumping from mirror to mirror, trying to turn them into pin cushions.

"Shit!" Kyoshiro cursed as he dodged another volley of senbon.

' _Uzumaki…_ ' the whisper that sounded from right behind him, send Naruto in to a sudden panic. His momentary state of surprise was exploited by the enemy as he felt multiple needles entering his body.

"Naruto!" Kyoshiro called out worried. He swung his sword in a full circle, blocking more senbon.

' _Uzumaki…_ ' there was that whisper again. Naruto wildly looked around. ' _Legacy_ …'

Time seemed to slow down as another volley of senbon sped towards Naruto. For some reason, Naruto felt like he was out of his body, everything was moving so slow…

' _Descendants of the third…_

 _Guardians of the seven…_

 _Legacy of a god…_

 _The heart of the blessed shall light the world…_

 _Open your eyes and welcome your destiny_

 _Uzumaki… Namikaze… Sora… Naruto…'_

A sharp pain coursed through Naruto's head, he had never felt such pain before.

The scream that pierced the air startled everyone. Zabuza took advantage of the opening and kicked Uzume in the chest sending her crashing into the shore.

The four clones maintaining the barrier dispersed into smoke. Tazuna and Yumiko were worried.

"Heh, looks like Haku took care of that blond brat of yours." Zabuza chuckled as he sped towards Tazuna at maximum speed. He then backhanded Yumiko who tied to stop him. She was thrown aside. Zabuza brought his sword down.

* * *

Haku looked at the scene before him in shock. He had no idea what had happened to the blond boy.

He knew without a doubt that the second barrage of senbon he sent would hit Naruto for sure. The boy was not in a position to even move. But before any of the senbon could hit, the red headed boy had used the body replacement technique to replace himself with the blond boy. So the red head ended up getting showered by senbon instead of his friend.

Now looking at the downed form of the two boys, Haku couldn't help but pity them. At least he wouldn't have to kill them now. His musings however, were cut short, as the red head that had taken the hit turned out to be a clone.

" _ **Crimson Abyss**_ " a shout rang inside the ice dome and a wave of blinding red energy exploded inside the dome completely destroying the dome. Haku was thrown out of his mirror. His clothes were burned and he knew that he had taken some serious damage, by the smell of the burning flesh. Lucky for him his attacker didn't seem to care about him anymore.

* * *

Kyoshiro stood panting after the last attack; he had put a shit load of chakra into that one attack. Uncaring of his tiredness he rushed over to Naruto who was slumped on the ground with eyes wide open in agony.

"Naruto!" he shouted as he held him. Naruto seemed to be in shock. His eyes glazed over, indicating that he was not really aware.

"Naruto!" Kyoshiro shook him again trying to snap him out of the daze.

"It looks like we have completed our mission. Haku let's get go." Zabuza announced smugly and Kyoshiro snapped his head towards his position.

Zabuza looked like he was barely standing, his was bleeding from several places and his body was decorated with bruises and burns.

Zabuza was standing there staring down at the body of the bridge builder, who had a large gash running horizontally across his chest almost cutting him in half. Kyoshiro knew he was dead.

Haku appeared beside Zabuza and both of them vanished in a shunshin.

Kyoshiro sighed and looked down at Naruto to see that he was unconscious. He then carefully started to remove the senbon. The wounds healed instantly.

"What happened to him?" Uzume asked as she stood next to Kyoshiro, who lifted Naruto and settled him on his back to carry him.

"I am not sure yet. But seeing how his chakra is raging inside him, I bet it has something to do with a clan heritage… I know he isn't hurt."

"That's good. Things went as planned."

"It looks like Yumiko's clone got dispelled, she would know what happened."

Uzume nodded as she moved towards Tazuna's 'body' and stomped on the ground after doing a few hand signs, " _ **Earth Release: Earth Crumple**_ "

The soil collapsed and Tazuna's body sunk into the earth and the soil once again covered the area.

"Let's go."

And they took off towards Tazuna's house.

* * *

 _ **FLASHBACK**_

"Let's rest for some time. Tazuna seems tired." Uzume announced. It had only been an hour after the confrontation with the demon brothers.

They nodded.

"Here" Naruto offered the old man some water, "It's not sake, so bear with it." He added chuckling.

"Thank you." Tazuna took the bottle and drank some.

"Team," Uzume got their attention, "From what I gathered from the demon brothers we will be facing Zabuza and an accomplice of his soon."

"Zabuza? As in, the demon of the bloody mist? That Zabuza?" Yumiko asked.

"Anything more on this accomplice?" Kyoshiro asked.

"No. But we might as well assume that this accomplice is a jonin as well."

"So we will be up against possibly two jonin? It will be hard going up against the jonin, as well as guarding a civilian." Naruto frowned.

Tazuna looked meek. He really appreciates them helping him, even when they had the choice of abandoning him.

"Even if we managed to defeat them, things will only get more inconvenient as Gato will most probably try hiring stronger ninjas next time." Kyoshiro said.

"We need time… I have requested a special mission from Hokage sama, we need time until I get authorization… and we should make sure that Gato wouldn't include any more missing nin to oppose us."

The team had a pretty good idea what the special mission she requested for was, so they nodded to their sensei.

"We could fool Gato into thinking that Tazuna is dead… Fooling Zabuza and his accomplice will be hard, but not impossible. We should tire them out enough so they won't notice anything wrong." Yumiko said. Uzume nodded in approval.

"We could use a blood clone. They won't disperse even if they are 'dead' so Zabuza won't notice." Naruto suggested.

"And my blood clone could do the transformation. That way Zabuza won't detect a henge, since mine is solid transformation." Kyoshiro added.

"I'll add a seal to the clone so that the transformation won't wear off after the clone dies." Naruto said.

Uzume smirked, she was really proud of her team. "Good idea team. By the time Gato figures out that Tazuna is not dead, I would get an official authorization from the hokage... And remember to damage Zabuza and his friend enough so that even if they figure out our ploy, they won't be able to attack us for some time."

"Okay sensei. But what are we going to do about the original?" Naruto asked pointing towards Tazuna.

"I'll take care of that." Yumiko said and bit her thumb to make it bleed and started a chain of hand signs, she then slammed her palm on the ground. A large fox, size of a horse; with orange brown fur and green eyes along with three tails appeared.

"What can I do for you, Yumiko chan?" the fox asked in a soft feminine voice.

"Midori chan, could you give the old man over there, a lift?" Yumiko pointed at Tazuna.

"I will if you can get me some teriyaki chicken." The fox answered licking her paw absentmindedly.

"Sure…" Yumiko drawled with a grin. "Is this alright sensei?"

Uzume nodded smiling. "Leave a reinforced shadow clone with us so that Zabuza don't get suspicious. Also take each of our clone with you as well, burst one of them when you reach his house so that we will get the location. Have the Naruto clone place security and detection seals around the house. Also, use a genjutsu so that no one sees Tazuna or any of you for that matter… and thanks for the help Midori san, we will surely buy you teriyaki once we get back to Konoha."

The fox nodded.

"Hey Naru chan, still as cute as ever."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Nice seeing you too Midori." Then he yelped when one of her tails slapped his ass. He gave her a red faced angry glare.

"Don't be such a prude Naru chan~." The fox giggled. "And hello there Lord Kyo kun… are you still in denial that you like Naru chan's ass?"

Kyoshiro coughed and turned his head away to hide a blush.

"Mi-Midori!" Naruto was as red as Kyoshiro's hair.

Yumiko shook her head smiling and helped Tazuna get on the fox. She and the clones would travel at jonin level speeds. They should reach the house sooner than expected.

"Good luck guys." Yumiko said.

 _ **FLASHBACK ENDS**_

* * *

"What do you think happened?" Tazuna asked worried.

They had reached the house safely, no one had spotted them. Kyoshiro's clone had dispelled itself so that the original could get the location of the house. Yumiko and the clones met Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter. The beautiful young woman was very kind hearted and caring. She had started preparing meals for the team that was arriving.

Uzume's clone went scouting while Naruto set up the security and detection seals.

"Umm, Tazuna san, Tsunami san could you come here for a sec? I want some of your blood to finish the security seals since I assume none of you know how to use chakra." Naruto called out.

Tsunami who was in the kitchen came to the living room where Naruto was working.

"What do you need me to do, Naruto san?" she asked smiling. Naruto smiled back at her.

"I just need a drop of blood. It's fine with you, right?"

"Of course, I am not afraid of a little of blood Naruto san." She said chuckling. Naruto nodded and took out a kunai and nicked her finger. He then let the blood touch the seal; the seal glowed for a moment.

"Done" Naruto said as he let go of Tsunami's hand.

"Alright then I'll be in the kitchen if you need me." With that she left for the kitchen once again.

"Hey, you drunkard, come here" Naruto announced making Tazuna grumble and scowl. "Kids… No respect these days…"

Naruto snickered.

He did the same he did with Tsunami.

"Careful Naru, he probably has sake running through his veins instead of blood." Yumiko announced from the kitchen, where she was helping Tsunami. Naruto snickered again.

"There the seal is done. Now I only need one more sample from your grandson. When will the boy be home?"

As if answering to Naruto, a little boy opened the door and entered the house.

"Mom, I'm back." That's when the boy noticed his grandfather. "Grandpa"

The boy hugged the old man.

"Inari, you are home kiddo. This is one of the ninja who protected me on the journey." Tazuna said pointing at Naruto.

Inari looked at Naruto skeptically. Naruto could sense the doubt, anger and above all sadness. Naruto fought to keep from frowning.

"Hello, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I am a ninja of Konoha."

The boy stubbornly kept quiet.

"Inari introduce yourself." Tazuna chided.

"Why? They're just going to die anyway."

Yumiko scowled at the kid.

"Well that's true….Everyone dies one day."Naruto said with a shrug.

Inari was about to walk away when Naruto grabbed his hand.

"What?" The boy snapped.

"Chill… I just need some of your blood."

The boy's eyes widened. "What?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and wordlessly nicked the boy's finger, "Oww!"

He then let the blood drop on to the seal. "Done" Naruto said and channeled some of his chakra into Inari so that his wound vanished.

Despite all his bitter feelings, Inari was still a kid and Naruto felt the bubbling curiosity and amazement.

"I'll go put these seals up now." Naruto said with a smile and was about to stand up when his eyes widened and he clutched his head in pain, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Kid!" Tazuna and Inari were surprised.

"What?" Yumiko came into the room as she felt Naruto's clone's chakra disappear.

"What happened? Did you hit the clone or something?" Yumiko asked baffled.

Her expression soon turned into worry as the memories of her own clone hit her.

"Did something happen?" Tazuna was worried.

"I hope not." Yumiko said worried. "They'll be here soon."

Inari silently went upstairs, even though he said those things he didn't really want any of them to die.

* * *

 _ **REVIEW IF YOU LIKE IT...**_

 _ **SEE YA LATER.**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.**_

 _ **I am back with another chapter... enjoy...**_

* * *

 **INARI BLESSED**

* * *

Uzumaki Kenta…Sora Minami…Namikaze Ren…Uzumaki Misako…Namikaze Mia…Namikaze Hana…Sora Airi…Namikaze Megumi…Sora Isamu…Namikaze Hideki… Sora Yasu… So many names… so many memories… Who am I? Am I a girl or a boy? Am I Namikaze Hana or Uzumaki Kenta or someone else? Everything was so confusing… too many memories… too many lives… Who am I?

"Naruto! You are awake… Naruto! Naruto! Look at me." The voice was familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint any of them… Who was that? Who was he calling for?

"Na…ruto… Is that who… I am?"

Kyoshiro looked at the now conscious boy worried. What happened to him? He doesn't even remember his own name?

"Yes… Yes that's your name… you are Naruto… Naruto Uzumaki."

Kyoshiro saw a spark of something within the vacant blue eyes.

"Uzumaki… Uzumaki… Naruto? Then who is Kenta? Am I not Uzumaki Kenta?"

"Who?" Kyoshiro was startled. Who the heck was Uzumaki Kenta? "I… no. You are not Uzumaki Kenta… You are Uzumaki Naruto."

"Then what about the others? Namikaze Hana… Sora Yasu… and the others…" Naruto said with a confused frown.

"Look I don't know what happened… But no you are not any of them… You are Namikaze Uzumaki Sora Naruto. You are the son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. You are the grandson of Sora Atsuko and Namikaze Takumi. You are the grandson of Uzumaki Akane and Sora Kaito. You… You are the legacy of Inari sama. You have precious people… Yumiko, Hokage jiji, Akemi san, Kakashi, Jiraya, Ayame, Teuchi oji san…and… and me… You were born on…"

As Kyoshiro kept talking the vacant blue eyes gained more spark… more realization…

"I… I remember… Ahh…" he clutched his head and cried.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"Too many memories… sage sight… Need time…" and then Naruto fainted.

Kyoshiro froze as he heard it, sage sight… He didn't understand what exactly happened. But he has heard of the legendary bloodline of the Uzumaki; a bloodline that led to the destruction of their clan. It was forgotten as a myth, because no Uzumaki ever activated the sage sight. Everyone believed that such a bloodline didn't exist at all. It was better that way.

Making sure that Naruto was comfortable he left a clone with him and went downstairs.

Yesterday had been their encounter with Zabuza. They reached the house by evening; this was the first time Naruto woke up after he lost consciousness during the fight. Team 7 had arrived the same evening and had handed Uzume the authorization for the mission; an A rank assassination mission. Now team 7 was training tree climbing, which Sakura was the only one who didn't know and Kakashi ended up helping the Uchiha brothers perfect their water walking.

Uzume would be doing the mission tonight. Kakashi will be assisting her. And if things go right, there will be no problems after tonight. But the advent of the sage sight was a matter for worry. He would've to make sure that no one else would know of this, because if anyone did Naruto would end up being hunted just like the rest of the Uzumaki were.

* * *

"Everything alright Kyoshiro?" Yumiko who was sparring with Uzume paused to ask him. Uzume looked at him as well.

"Naruto woke up."

"Really how is he?"

"He's… something's wrong. He seems to have problems with his memory. He didn't even remember his name."

Uzume frowned and Yumiko gasped.

"Is he awake now?" Uzume asked.

"No… He seemed to have remembered once I told him about everything… but he soon fainted afterwards."

"I see." Uzume said. Then she wordlessly left the clearing. She had spent enough time with her genin to know that they hid many things from her. She didn't mind, after all she had her own secrets and she believed her hokage. So she didn't pry. Just like this instance, she knew that Kyoshiro skipped something, and she knew that he would've told her about it had she needed to know. So she left them alone so that they could talk it out.

"What is it Kyo?" Yumiko asked.

"It's something serious, but we will have to wait till Naruto wake up to know more."

"Okay then… Want to spar?"

"Sure why not?"

* * *

"Why are you not teaching us something else? We already know water walking…" Sasuke said irritated.

"Because you need to perfect it" Kakashi said nonchalantly while he turned another page of his favorite 'literature'.

"Admit it; you are just being a lazy pervert." Sasuke grumbled to which Kakashi answered with a perverted giggle.

"Sasuke chan, you need to respect sensei. It's not appropriate for you to act this way." Sakura said in what she thought was a sisterly caring tone; since she would be his sister once she marries Shin kun.

"Like I care." Sasuke scoffed.

"Shin kun…"Sakura whined at Sasuke's disrespectful tone.

"You need to stop being so rude to others brother." Shin said with a soft smile.

Three things happened then; 1 Sasuke sunk down in shock. 2 Sakura fell down from the tree she was climbing in surprised delight. 3 Kakashi dropped his book in surprise.

Did Shin just smile? At Sasuke? That too a completely gentle and loving smile?

Sasuke sputtered as he climbed out of water. Shin looked concerned. Kakashi picked up his book and eye smiled. Sakura squealed and threw herself at Shin that caused Shin to lose focus and both of them got drenched.

"So-Sorry Shin kun" Sakura moved back fearfully. Shin was quite cruel when angry. And surprise number two of the day was when Shin; instead of burning Sakura into crisp; laughed. That's right he laughed; a completely normal mirthful laugh. And what was the result? Sasuke who had somehow regained his balance fell back into the river.

The second time Sasuke climbed out of the water.

"Are you okay, brother?" Shin asked.

"What are you planning?" Sasuke asked suspiciously. His suspicion was confirmed when he saw Shin stiffen. Shin lowered his head so that his hair shadowed his eyes.

"Do you think so lowly of me brother? That I won't be nice to you unless I have some _'evil plan'_ in my head?" He scoffed slightly. When Shin raised his head, the hurt and somewhat bitter acceptance was visible in his eyes.

"I…I am sorry for how I acted till day brother… I'll be training alone for sometime sensei." With that Shin ran out of the clearing with his head lowered.

"Look at what you did Sasuke baka. You hurt Shin kun." Sakura wailed for her beloved and ran after him to comfort him.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He looked at Kakashi and was relieved to find that he wasn't the only one who found that entire thing suspicious.

* * *

"Just a little longer Zabuza sama" Haku wheezed as he half carried half dragged the weakened man. His own injuries forgotten in favor of his master's injuries.

It was a mistake to trust Gato. Once they healed, that midget was going to pay. But right now they had to focus on not getting caught by Gato's men. They were still too weak from the earlier fight. They needed a place to recuperate.

* * *

Gato paced around his quarters.

"I need all of you find them and kill them. Whoever finds them first gets a bonus." He bellowed out to the thugs standing before him.

He had done a mistake in letting Zabuza and his loyal pet escape. There is no doubt that once they recovered they would come back for his blood. And they are not weak like the people of wave. Gato will be dead before he could say 'wave'. After all Zabuza was a master assassin. Damn it all to hell. They needed to find him while he was still weak. Gato cursed loudly at his own foolishness and the incompetence of the thugs.

"Well well well… What do we have here?" a voice announced from the shadows.

"Who's there? Show yourself." Gato announced terrified. All his thugs dropped unconscious like sacks of potato.

"And what can you do if I show myself?" the man whoever he was chuckled mirthlessly.

"What do you want? Money? Women? Power? I'll give it to you, just don't kill me." Gato was bowling like a kid; a fat ugly kid.

"What I want… is a good fight… and some cash would be nice as well." A man stepped out of the shadows.

He was tall, with light brown hair and narrow black eyes. He had an almost wiry frame. He wouldn't look that much menacing if it wasn't for the insane grin he was sporting. Gato saw the scratched head band and knew the man was a missing nin.

"Listen here midget. I'll protect you when Zabuza comes for you, and I am sure he will. And you will pay me a handsome price when I save your life… See I am not an unjust man. So now be a good little scum and call off your dogs. Give Zabuza time to heal so that he can fight me at his fullest." The man finished with an insane giggle.

All Gato could do was nod terrified.

* * *

"Shin kun wait!" Sakura yelled as she followed him into an isolated clearing in the forest.

He stopped in his tracks. Sakura felt her heart thumping in her chest. She was alone with her crush in a clearing.

"Shin kun… don't be sad… Sasuke was just being a baka…" She said tentatively.

His shoulders started shaking.

Sakura didn't know what happened next everything was a blur as Shin somehow ended up in her arms crying his heart out.

' _Don't faint don't faint don't faint'_ Sakura kept repeating in her mind. ' _Oh god let this not be a dream…_ '

' _ **Of course this is not a dream. Shin kun finally realized that we are his soul mate'**_ inner Sakura shouted victoriously.

"He really hates me Sakura… My brother hates me… I know I've been cruel to him in the past but… But I want to change… will he ever forgive me?"

"Oh shin kun… of course he will forgive you. You are such a nice person. Even if you have acted a little distant in the past, that was because you wanted to get strong right? He will see that you are a good person Shin kun."

"You… you are the only one who understands me… Sakura chan…" Shin said in a quiet voice that had Sakura blushing up a storm, any moment her heart would burst through her ribcage. "Would you like to… umm… could you… I mean…"

' _ **He's stuttering… that's so cute… and he's blushing… OMG he totally loves us'**_

"Will you go on a date with me Sakura?" He finally mustered up the courage and asked.

"Please tell me this is not a dream." Was all she could say. He chuckled.

"Of course this is not a dream Sakura chan… I can give you more proof if you want." There was a certain twinkle in his eyes and the next thing she knew, he was kissing her. He, the undeniably hot and strongest genin (according to his fan club alone) of the village; Shin of the great Uchiha clan; was kissing her.

A moment of shock and after that Sakura returned his kiss almost desperately. She finally had her dream come true.

"Let's just go… or I am going to puke my guts out." Yumiko droned in a zombie like voice. They had been training in the same clearing before the two lovebirds entered. Let's just say that their curiosity traumatized the cats.

"And I thought I had seen it all…" Kyoshiro said remembering all the revolting sights he had seen in his long life.

They silently walked away, leaving the newly made couple to suck their faces off and whatever else they decided to do.

"He is planning something… We should be careful. I can sense his feelings and they are not particularly good for anyone." Kyoshiro said.

"We should warn Sasuke."

Kyoshiro nodded and they continued towards the house.

* * *

Dinner at Tazuna's home was somewhat awkward and strange, at least for the shinobi it was.

Sakura was chatting nonstop towards Shin who was smiling and listening to her. Kakashi was reading his smut. Uzume was conversing with Tsunami. Sasuke, Kyoshiro and Yumiko were eating silently.

"So, how is Naruto?" Sasuke asked Kyoshiro.

"He woke up once but not for long." Kyoshiro said.

"What do you think happened to him?" Sasuke asked frowning.

Sakura who heard this scoffed, "He probably got scared of Zabuza and fainted." She then frowned when she noticed that no one paid any notice to her. She huffed and turned back to talking with Shin.

Kyoshiro suddenly smiled, "My clone just dispelled… Naruto woke up."

Shin was staring at Kyoshiro when he said that.

"Oh, I'll take some food to him then." Tsunami was about to sit up when,

"No need for that Tsunami san." A voice spoke. Tsunami turned around and saw that Naruto was standing there.

"How are you doing Naruto san?"

"I am fine now. Thank you for asking."

Sasuke moved over so that Naruto could sit in between Kyoshiro and him.

"So, what really happened to you?" Sasuke asked.

"A chakra disruption" Naruto answered nonchalantly, surprising and confusing everyone at the table.

"What's that, baka?" Sakura asked. Naruto seemed unfazed by the insult.

"That fake hunter nin, he has ice release. It belongs to the Yuki clan, a branch clan of Uzumaki. My Uzumaki chakra and his Yuki clan chakra reacted and since I am more in tune with my chakra and that I am a sensor, this reaction affected me more than him."

"How many branch clans does the Uzumaki clan have? I remember you saying something similar about the Kazama clan." Shin asked politely. Naruto stared at Shin intently. The gaze made Shin nervous as well as a little excited, Naruto's sole attention was on him and that made his heart race.

"Stop staring at Shin kun, baka." Sakura screeched. Naruto shifted his gaze on to Sakura who fidgeted under the heavy gaze and averted her eyes almost instantly.

"The Uzumaki clan has many branch clans. The branch clans are actually not related to the Uzumaki main line, but the clans were adopted into the Uzumaki clan." Naruto said.

"How do you adopt a clan? That sounds stupid." Sakura scoffed.

"I suggest you keep your mouth shut Haruno. We Uzumaki do not take insult to our clan lightly." The killer intent that accompanied those words made Sakura shake and latch on to Shin for support.

"During the era of clan wars, many smaller clans perished. Some of them asked refuge from the Uzumaki clan which was the most peaceful clan at that time. The Uzumaki clan gave them refuge. The clans were officially made the branch clans of the original Uzumaki line. Even though all of the branch clans keep their clan names, in the end all of them are Uzumaki. Each member of the Uzumaki clan including the branch clans has a seal on them. They are placed at the time of birth by the parent. The seal helps another from the clan to identify a member of the clan. It was that seal that acted up and caused me trouble."

"Will this be harmful in the future if you ever face that shinobi again?" if Naruto didn't know better he would've thought that Shin was concerned, but he did know better and thus had no such illusions.

"No. It is a onetime thing really. It only serves for recognition. It only has such explosive reactions on the first meeting, but the seals will keep us from killing each other." Naruto said with a knowing look that set off Shin's alerts.

Shin purposefully avoided meeting Naruto's eyes; there was something in those eyes that set off Shin.

"So, anything interesting happened while I was out?" Naruto asked Uzume.

"Nothing much, no one knows that Tazuna is alive. And tonight will be the end of it all." Uzume said.

"I see." Naruto said softly and continued his meal silently. "The food is great Tsunami san. Thank you." He praised with a smile.

Tsunami blushed slightly, "Oh, I had a lot of help from Yumiko chan."

"Come on Tsunami chan, you did most of the work." Yumiko said smiling at the bashful lady.

As the dinner progressed Naruto was well aware of the pair of eyes fixated on him.

Kyoshiro could not pinpoint it but there was something different about Naruto. Those eyes… still as sparkling sapphire as ever, but there was an edge, a hidden depth that confused Kyoshiro. Naruto and Yumiko no matter how much they had been through, how much they had trained, they had an aura of innocence, and childishness that only time could remove. But now, looking at Naruto, he seemed older, not physically but spiritually. Those eyes sharper and more… knowing? Experienced? Kyoshiro was confused by his own thoughts.

"Hey Naruto, I want a spar tomorrow." Sasuke said.

"Sure Sasuke." Naruto said with a smile.

"You are all acting so happy. You are all fools acting like you could change anything. Why do you guys bother to try so hard?! No matter how hard you train, you're still no match for Gatō's men! No matter what glorious claims you make or how hard you work, the weak will only end up getting killed!" Inari yelled as he jumped up and yelled.

The only one who was surprised by the outburst was the genin of team 7. The others had been expecting this for sometime.

"Who are you calling weak, you little squirt?!" Sakura jumped up in outrage. "Shin kun is stronger than everyone." Proclaimed the love crazed girl.

"You are all fools. You are all going to get killed."

"Why you!" Sakura was about to hit the boy when a hand stopped her fist. She looked up to see Yumiko holding her fist. When she looked forward she saw the original Yumiko still sitting calmly and eating.

"You are a ninja Haruno, act like it." The cold words were enough to make Sakura step back.

"What do you propose we do, Inari?"

Inari looked startled at Naruto who asked him the question with a calm yet grave expression on his face.

"Wh-what?" Inari stuttered.

"What do you propose we do? You already said that we are wasting our time trying… So what should we do?"

Inari scowled, "Just give up. None of you know anything about us. You all live in your cozy homes and come here. You don't know anything about suffering."

"I see…" Naruto was still calm. "And what do you think will be the consequences of an action like that?"

"What are you saying stupid?" Inari bellowed.

"Inari!" Tsunami called angrily.

"Once we give up as you say, it will be a matter of time before Gato finds out that Tazuna is alive. He will surely send more men to kill him. This time, your grandfather will die and god knows what they will do to your mother and you. And if you somehow manage to survive, you could then see how Gato slowly kill Wave. With their last hope erased by the death of Tazuna, the bridge will never be finished. People will suffer more, they will die of hunger and those that don't die will be sold as slaves or massacred by Gato's men. Is this what you want?"

Inari looked stunned, then angry. "And you think you can stop this if you try?"

"No."

This time everyone looked at Naruto shocked.

"We can kill Gato. We can defeat every one of his thugs, but we can't save you… that are up to all of you. There are thousands of people like Gato out there. Once we leave, another Gato will come and as long as you stay as weak willed no one will be able to save you. No one… Your father was a great man and do you think he would be happy seeing his son, his people wallowing in your fear?"

Tears welled up in his eyes at the mention of Kaiza, he was about to leave but Naruto held his hand and didn't let him.

"Let me go…" Naruto ignored the boy's sobs and weak protests.

"Tell me… What would your father have done?"

More sobs. Tsunami was silently crying.

"A hero is not someone who saves thousands single handedly, a hero is someone who can bring hope through his actions. A hero is someone who can give courage and empower the weak. What a hero needs more than power, is a heart; a heart to protect others. Your father was one and instead of nourishing the courage he passed on to you, you extinguish it. You are his legacy and is this how you repay him and his actions? By not giving him any peace even in after life, because the people he love so much is suffering every day. We would rather die trying than live as cowards and slaves… and I think your father would understand that."

Inari didn't know what to do. No one talked to him like this. Was he making his dad suffer? The only thing he could do was cry. And when Naruto's hand shifted from his wrist to his shoulder, he didn't waste any time in jumping into Naruto's arms. And Naruto held him silently, letting the boy cry out the emotions that was plaguing him since his father's death.

Everyone watched silently as Naruto held the crying child tenderly. They watched as Naruto stood up with Inari in his arms and after a nod to Tsunami, went towards Inari's arms. Inari did not notice.

Kyoshiro and Yumiko could feel the waves of energy wafting off of Naruto; the energy bought a sense of calmness with it.

The table grew silent as Naruto left.

* * *

"Kyo… Yumi…"

Kyoshiro turned to face the newcomer while Yumiko kept silently staring at the full moon.

"Is Inari asleep yet?"

"Yeah… Sensei and Kakashi?"

"Already left."

The three were standing in a clearing near the lake. Privacy seals already active in case someone bypassed Yumiko's senses; which was nearly impossible, unless you consider someone like Uzume. It was midnight and the moon was bright.

Silence prevailed for some time.

"What's different Naru? What changed while you were unconscious?" Yumiko asked the question that had been plaguing her ever since Naruto woke up.

"What do you guys know about sage sight?"

Yumiko looked at him startled and a little fearful. Kyoshiro was impassive.

"Do… do you have…" Yumiko whispered.

"I do."

* * *

"What the fuck is going on? Who was that man?" Uzume gasped as she staggered while supporting Kakashi. Their chakra levels were dangerously low.

"I don't know… Gato might have hired someone else. But why? Did they know that Tazuna is alive?" Kakashi spoke strained.

"We'll talk once we make it back safe. This is getting more and more troublesome." Uzume said.

They slowly walked away from Gato's base. It was supposed to simple. The most they should've faced were a lot of thugs and perhaps two wounded missing nin, but this crazy and most likely an S rank shinobi was not part of the plan. They had walked right into the trap. Damn it all. Now their priority was to get back safe.

Up in the tree a figure watched the two staggering shinobi.

"What's this? two leaf worms… and Tazuna's alive huh? This is interesting… Should I let them go or should I play some more? Hmm… I'll let them go for now, I'll get a chance at mass murder once they bring their back up… yup… definitely interesting."

* * *

"Fancy meeting you here, fake hunter nin san."

Haku turned around startled, ready to launch his ice senbon at whoever had spotted them, but that voice…

"You…" Haku whispered once he saw the blond kid that he fought.

"And us too." A soft feminine voice called out from her other side. Haku looked and saw the brown haired girl from their team. And on top of the tree was the red haired boy sitting calmly while polishing his sword. A silent warning. Haku's mind was on fire.

"What are you still doing here? Your mission was over…"

Naruto shrugged, "we needed time to recuperate."

"And by the looks of it you need it too." Yumiko said looking at the unconscious Zabuza. Haku also looked like he was about to drop dead any moment, and was only staying awake through sheer will power.

"Look… since we no longer work for Gato and your mission are over, we could move on without a fight." Haku knew that if a fight broke out now, they're as good as dead. But he will try to protect Zabuza till last breath.

Naruto quirked a light smile as he sensed the boy's feelings. "Or… you could explain to us what happened and we could then help you."

Haku was taken aback by the boy's offer; none of his teammates disagreed with him either.

"What about your sensei?"

"She'll understand." Yumiko shrugged.

"So… what happened?" Naruto asked again. Haku was desperate so he took a leap of faith.

"Gato betrayed us. Once he told him that Tazuna was dead, he refused to pay us and tried to kill us with his thugs. We were weakened severely by the fight between us and had not much energy to fight the thugs, so we had to run. Gato has his men looking for us as we speak. Please, I… we need your help."

"And you have no plan of joining Gato again?"

"No."

"Are you sure that Zabuza won't?"

"Yes. He said so himself."

Naruto nodded. He looked over at Yumiko and Kyoshiro who had looks of approval.

"So let's get you fixed then." Naruto said with a genuine smile.

"Thank you." And with that Haku fainted.

* * *

 _ **Review if you like this guys.**_

 _ **Bye see ya later.**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.**_

 _ **one more chpater done... enjoy... and review if you like it...**_

* * *

 **INARI BLESSED**

* * *

" _Descendent of the third_

 _Guardians of the seven_

 _Legacy of a god_

 _Three clans" Naruto whispered quietly. The moon shining above them._

" _What?" Yumiko asked confused. Kyoshiro had a look of surprise and confusion._

" _Legacy of a god… it means the Sora clan doesn't it? No other clan can be called a legacy. But… what about the other two?"_

" _Descendents of the third is the Uzumaki clan and Namikaze is the Guardians of the seven."_

" _What does that mean? Descendent of the third and Guardians of the seven?" Yumiko asked. "And what does sage sight have to do with any of this?"_

 _Naruto sighs, "First tell me what you know of sage sight."_

 _Yumiko and Kyoshiro looked at each other. There had been no scroll on sage sight anywhere, all they knew were rumors. Kyoshiro had been too distant from civilization to actually know any facts on the mythical bloodline._

" _Ah, it's said to be a dojutsu with the ability to copy bloodlines?" Yumiko said doubtful of her own words, such a bloodline sounded too good to be true. But in the end, it was fear and greed of the very same bloodline that led to the destruction of Ushio._

" _I have heard the same, a bloodline with the ability to replicate and combine other bloodlines."_

" _Wrong. It is not a bloodline that can 'copy' bloodlines. That rumor was spread first when some shinobi saw an Uzumaki using wood release and sharingan together. But for all the talk about sage sight, it's not even a dojutsu." Naruto spoke earning more surprise._

 _Naruto started speaking again, "Not many know this, but the sage of the six paths had a daughter as well; a third child."_

" _How come I've met only two of them then? Even when the sage summoned me to take the role of the ninth biju he never even mentioned any other child than his two sons." Kyoshiro asked confused._

" _Descendents of the third…" Yumiko whispered. Naruto had a smile on his face._

" _The reason you and the world never knew about the third child was because she died long before the creation of the biju. She was forgotten because she had never had a chance to do historical acts like her brothers."_

" _How did she die?" Kyoshiro asked._

" _In child birth"_

 _That made a lot of sense, so the descendents of the third, were her descendents._

" _The sage's daughter died giving birth to her son. Her husband and the child's father wanted the child to grow up with a normal childhood. This was impossible with the two uncles engaged in constant fights. So the sage allowed the father to take the new born child and leave. But before they left the sage had given the man a scroll, a single scroll that amassed all the knowledge the sage had on seals. The both of them went and lived in a distant island and thus created the Uzumaki clan. The son inherited his mother's talent in seals and had learned everything he could from the scroll. The name Uzumaki, it had no specialty really, the father and son need a cover, and they chose a random name. Then it was only a matter of time before the Uzumaki became one of the strongest clans in history even with its low number of clansmen."_

" _So the Uzumaki clan is a direct descendent of the sage's third child…" Yumiko said in awe._

" _And what about the sage sight? What does it do if it doesn't copy bloodlines?" Kyoshiro asked after sometime._

" _What it does is actually boost regressive genes."_

 _Kyoshiro looked at Naruto in bafflement, "You mean…"_

" _Yup. It doesn't give you any power to copy bloodlines, the only thing it does is to boost your gene structure to such levels that even the most regressive genes express themselves. You know how some bloodlines skip generations, right? Well with the sage sight, such a thing won't happen. And since the Uzumaki clan has many branch clans and interbreeding has continued for several generations, when one activates the sage sight possibly all of the bloodlines become active at the same time, sometime even combining to become entirely another bloodline."_

 _Yumiko was staring with her jaw hanging open._

" _Well, it certainly explains why the others mistook the ability as copying bloodlines."_

" _It awesome…. So how many bloodlines do you have?" Kyoshiro asked._

 _Naruto smirked; "Besides the Namikaze, Uzumaki, and Sora bloodlines; I have ice release, dead bone pulse and a dojutsu."_

" _Awesome." Yumiko grinned._

" _Since the clan adoption, the branch clans and Uzumaki main line have had many marriages between them; by the end there really didn't exist a distinction between Uzumaki pure line and branch clans. My mother's great grandmother or something was a Yuki. I also have some Kaguya blood in me; not enough to give me the dead bone pulse; but enough so that I could change the density of my bones at will. I have the Senju, Uchiha and Hyuga blood in me as well."_

" _So you have the sharingan or is it the Byakugan?" Kyoshiro asked._

" _Do you have the wood release?" Yumiko asked excited._

" _No. My Hyuga and Uchiha heritage was very feeble; but when the boost hit, the both combined into an entirely new dojutsu. My Senju heritage was the same, it wasn't enough to manifest the wood release, but instead it advanced my plant manipulation ability from Sora; so I have plant release now."_

" _You do realize how dangerous this is, don't you?" Kyoshiro asked frowning. When people finds out...  
_

" _I do." Naruto said in a grave tone._

Kyoshiro lied on his futon, staring at the ceiling. He was thinking about the conversation they had before they had found Haku and Zabuza. This will help them in the long run, but he couldn't help but worry for Naruto. And then there was the fact that if the council found out, it could prove to be trouble.

He shifted his head to look at Naruto who lied on the futon next to him. He just had come back after healing and putting chakra suppressing seals on Zabuza and Haku, just in case. The security seals were still active.

Naruto and Kyoshiro had decided to share the room in which Zabuza and Haku were placed. Sasuke, Shin and Kakashi took one room and Uzume, Sakura and Yumiko in another room.

There was some clash when they bought in Zabuza and Haku; mostly from Sakura, and Shin was suspiciously compliant.

Namikaze, Uzumaki, Sora three clans bought together in the most miraculous way. The bloodlines, sage sight, everything was too good to be true, like someone out there was doing everything on purpose. Kyoshiro had long ago stopped believing in coincidences; especially once he met the goddess of fate and saw for himself exactly how insane and genius the goddess is; a cocktail for disaster.

Kyoshiro sighed again. No matter what happens he will protect Naruto and Yumiko. They are good children, although Kyoshiro felt it a little unfitting to call Naruto a child after he heard the full affect the sage sight had on him. Once more looking at the innocently sleeping boy next to him, he wondered how he was holding up.

" _My father really didn't inherit much of the Namikaze blood. The only thing he got from the Namikaze clan was a talent in space time ninjutsu (though not anywhere near the level of a pure blooded Namikaze) and his blond locks. And maybe perhaps his wind affinity since both Sora and Namikaze clan had wind affinities. That's why he never activated the Namikaze bloodline, had he been able to do that, he would've known ploy behind the story that the Namikaze was nothing but a small merchant clan from Mist. Namikaze was a powerful clan, powerful and smart; smart enough to hide their prowess from the rest of the world to avoid attention._

 _The Namikaze were masters of space time ninjutsu, they had a few jutsu only members from the clan could use. In fact the jutsu used by that Uchiha we fought kind of remind me of one of the Namikaze clan jutsu. Also most Namikaze has a duel affinity of wind and water; hence the name Namikaze. Blond hair and green eyes are their features in general. There was one more ability._

 _You know about the Uzumaki knowledge transfer seals, right? Well the seal's idea is actually based on the Namikaze bloodline known a Memory Fusion. What happens is that every Namikaze clan heir receives the knowledge of the previous clan heads. There are no seals, no medium, the knowledge appears in the mind of every clan heir and they would be able to learn the technique. This is also the reason that Namikaze clan doesn't actually have any clan scrolls. The knowledge is directly transferred."_

" _Neat. Is that what happened to you?" Yumiko asked._

 _Naruto winced slightly and grimaced holding his head, "Not exactly…"_

 _Kyoshiro didn't really like the somber expression on Naruto's face._

" _What happened?"_

 _Naruto looked at them with a sad smile, "The ability of the sage sight and my Sora bloodline kind of messed things up."_

" _What?!" both Yumiko and Kyoshiro asked worried. Naruto waved off their worries._

" _It's not really that harmful." Then he grimaced holding his head again, "Okay, it is a little painful… just a little… but it is a good thing in the end."_

 _This did nothing to ease the worries of his two friends._

" _Well you see, you know about the Sora ability of Final Judgment right? It sort of got mixed up with the Memory fusion, by the sage sight's ability of combining and boosting bloodlines. As a result instead of simply acquiring their knowledge, I had to live through their memories; from birth to death."_

 _Yumiko and Kyoshiro looked at Naruto with wide eyes; but Kyoshiro was the only one who could fully comprehend the situation and Kyoshiro was slightly horrified._

" _That too memories of ancestors from all three clans…" Naruto finished with a sad smile._

" _How are you feeling Naru?" Kyoshiro asked gently and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder._

 _Naruto lowered his head so that his hair shadowed his face._

" _I…I…" a choked sob escaped Naruto._

 _Kyoshiro embraced him tightly, Naruto sobbed, burying his face into the juncture or Kyoshiro's neck and shoulder._

" _Shhh… it's alright…. Everything will be alright…" 'At least I hope so…'_

 _Naruto cried on Kyoshiro's shoulder releasing all the confusion and frustration he felt._

 _In duration of barely a day, he had lived through countless lives. The first life he lived through confused him, even as he spend five years(mentally) as Sora Yamiko; he kept reminding himself that he was Naruto; Naruto Uzumaki. But as years passed it had became hard to hold onto his believes._

 _Even when he knew that it was not real, he felt everything, he loved, he hated, he cherished; he had no choice, because the emotions that came with the memories made it hard for him to believe that it was not his real life. Living as Namikaze Nariko; he found out about the Namikaze bloodline, he understood what was happening, but that didn't make it any easier. Because as far as his mind was concerned he had lived his life as them._

 _And it hurt. Oh god it hurt. Seeing your precious people die in one life, just to get thrown into another life and make more precious people and see them dying. Life as Uzumaki Takashi was what ultimately broke Naruto's fragile heart. Uzumaki Takashi, the sandaime uzukage, who was forced to witness the destruction of his entire clan._

 _He felt another pair of arms engulf him. He knew it was Yumiko, but his mind kept supplying parallels, Sanma, his mother when he was Sora Yasu or Minami his lover when he was Uzumaki Kenshin._

 _He needed to do something before he lost his mind._

 _For now he will relish in the embrace of Kyoshiro and Yumiko._

Kyoshiro sighed again and turned to his side. Naruto was so close, laying not even an arm's length away from reached out; his pale hand hovering inches from the warm skin of Naruto's cheek.

" _What does it mean?" Yumiko asked._

" _Huh?"_

" _The guardians of the seven; what does it mean? Seven what?"_

 _Kyoshiro nodded, "Yeah I was wondering that too. The descendent of the third child of the sage is Uzumaki. The legacy of a god refers to Sora. And the Namikaze is the guardian of the seven… but seven what?"_

 _Naruto smirked; "Contracts. Seven contracts."_

" _Like summoning contracts?" Yumiko asked wide eyed._

" _The forbidden seven… Of course how could I forget? Seven powerful contracts that had been lost to time. I knew the contracts were guarded by a clan; but I didn't know it was the Namikaze. I was thinking it was the Sora or Uzumaki." Kyoshiro was surprised._

" _The Namikaze are said to be guardians of the seven contracts; that is the contracts are kept in a place only a Namikaze could enter. And there is the fact that there are no information on the scrolls other than the myths and tales of their power. The Namikaze bloodline of memory fusion makes it easier."_

" _I see…. If my memory serves me right; the Guardian clan has an approval by all seven summoning contracts, don't they?" Kyoshiro asked._

" _You mean you don't need to actually sign the contract to summon them?" Yumiko asked awed looking at Naruto._

" _No. Each contract has a specific set of hand seals. I just have to do them and they would come, because I have the Namikaze bloodline; which makes me the clan head."_

" _What all are they?" Yumiko asked._

" _The first is the summoning contract for the bijus. It was created by the sage of six paths. With it one could easily get the biju out of whatever confinement they're under. But it takes a shit load of chakra to summon even the weakest biju._

 _The next is the summoning contract of the dead. With this we could summon anyone back from the dead to fight alongside us. The time limit of the summon depends on the chakra used, and the stronger the person summoned, the more chakra needed. The summon will appear with the power he/she possessed while he/she was alive; but they won't have any soul; meaning all they can do is obey orders from the summoners._

 _The third is the summoning contract of the elementals; they are actually spirits with full control of a single element._

 _The fourth one is the summoning contract for the butterflies. They are master wind users and can create shields that could resist a direct bijudama._

 _The fifth is the dragon contract. Very prideful creature and tempermental."_

 _Kyoshiro scoffed getting the attention of both Naruto and Yumiko; but he refused to say anything. Naruto was confused, but continued._

" _They have elemental affinities, and except the boss summon and non elemental dragons; you can only summon those dragons with the same affinity as yours._

 _The sixth is a weapons contract. It contains access to weapons that are either fully, or partially sentient. Some of those weapons are said to drive their wielders mad if they're weak willed._

 _The seventh is the contract of the gate guard; it allows you to open portals to different realms."_

" _They all sound very powerful." Yumiko said wide eyed._

" _But you need more training before you would be able to use them properly." Kyoshiro said._

" _It is only a matter of time…"_

Gently he placed his hand on the cheek and Naruto nuzzled his hand with a barely visible smile, that was soon interrupted by a grimace; another headache.

Naruto's mind was still trying to accommodate all the information from so many lives. A normal person would've had his mind shattered by now.

His thumb absentmindedly caressed the soft plumb lips. When his mind caught up with what he was doing; he blushed.

He quickly withdrew his hand; and right on time to, because Naruto's eyes flew open the next moment.

Kyoshiro was startled speechless for a moment, hand paused half way from Naruto's face. That's when Kyoshiro felt it a ripple in the security seals, that's what woke Naruto up.

* * *

It was no enemy, it was Uzume and Kakashi.

By the time Naruto and Kyoshiro got out of their room, it was to see Yumiko tending to a half conscious Uzume and Kakashi. Naruto was by their side in an instant.

Checking them and healing them.

When Naruto was done both jonin was asleep.

"Severe chakra exhaustion and some bruises. There is no other damage; but this is troubling. They will be fine in two days." Naruto frowned.

"Who would've hurt them like this? It has to be some high profile ninja."

"And since Zabuza and Haku are with us, it has to be someone else. Did Gato hire someone else?"

"Maybe he figured out our ploy."

"We will have to wait till sensei and Kakashi wake up. I'll go and up the security seals, just in case." Naruto said.

"I and Kyoshiro will keep watch tonight. You go sleep Naru, you need it." Yumiko said.

Naruto nodded; if he didn't get some proper sleep, his mind will become more stressed and that is the last thing they need now.

* * *

Naruto groaned as he woke up. The sleep had helped a lot; his mind was calmer and ordered now. There were still small bursts of headache, but it was not mind numbing pain like yesterday.

He sat up and looked to the side. Kyoshiro was absent.

The sunlight streamed from the open window. It is somewhere near 10 o'clock he summarized. With a sigh, he looked to the corner; Zabuza and Haku was still subdued and unconscious. The seals keeping them secure.

He walked over to them. He let out a small burst of chakra into both seals, both shinobi groaned as they regained consciousness.

Zabuza opened his eyes and looked at the blond boy sitting beside him. He felt for his chakra, but found that his chakra was suppressed. The blond boy had turned away from Zabuza in order to look at Haku.

Zabuza thinking that they have been captured; pounced on the blond. Naruto, who was a little bit disoriented still, was caught off guard.

"You suppressed my chakra, but you forgot that I am a jonin boy. Do you think I would be harmless just like that?" Zabuza growled out.

"Zabuza sama" Haku cried out as his mentor tackled the boy.

Naruto, who was relatively unharmed, gave Zabuza and unimpressed look.

"Really? Then why don't you try escaping?"

Zabuza growled at the boy's tone.

Zabuza was sitting on top of Naruto and he had both arms of the boy pinned to the floor. Naruto sighed and let out a brief pulse of chakra, the next moment Zabuza felt his whole body going numb. He could no longer move any part of his body.

Naruto frowned as Zabuza slumped on top of him.

"You're heavy dude. Hey Haku, get your master off of me." Naruto spoke.

"What did you do?"

"I have a subduing seal on you Zabuza; I can do this every time you get the big idea of attacking anyone. Now, Haku explains to him how you both got here and I'll release him once he calms down." Naruto felt like massaging his forehead, but it was not possible with Zabuza still on top of him.

Once Haku helped move Zabuza, Naruto looked at the both of them nonchalantly.

"I'll leave you two alone for some time." With that he left the room.

* * *

When Naruto reached downstairs, he saw Inari smiling up at him shyly. He smiled back. Tsunami came out of the kitchen and beamed at him.

"Naruto kun, how are you this morning?"

"I am fine Tsunami san." The fact that her son was smiling seem to have lightened the woman's burdens.

Naruto walked further and stopped in front of the room housing the jonin.

Uzume and Kakashi were lying on two futon, in the middle of the room. Yumiko and Kyoshiro sat next to the two jonin with grave faces.

"Ah, Naruto, You're here." Kakashi said.

"How are Zabuza and Haku?" Uzume asked.

"Awake and talking a few things out."

"Do you think it was wise to leave them alone?" Uzume asked.

"It will be fine." Naruto reassured them and sat down. "Now, what happened to you both?"

"Gato's still alive, he seem to have hired another missing nin." Uzume said frowning. "Probably an S rank…. And we walked right into the trap."

"There was chakra draining seals surrounding the hide out." Kakashi said. "Our chakra was gone before we could make any move, had we been a little too late at getting away, we would've died of chakra exhaustion."

"The kind of seals that our anbu use to handle prisoners?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"No, it was advanced than that." Kakashi shook his head.

The three genin looked at each other pensively, that can possibly mean that the enemy is well versed in seals.

"Anything about his fighting styles?" Kyoshiro asked.

"He is at least low kage level in speed and has brute strength that rival's Tsunade's." Uzume said.

"That's not good." Yumiko muttered.

"There's one more thing. On our way out, I saw a seal carved onto the bark of a tree." Kakashi said gaining everyone's attention. "I have seen that particular seal before… on the day that Naruto was attacked six years ago."

* * *

 **well i am almost sure that i have made some stupid mistakes in this chapter, but i was in a hurry, so sorry...**

 _ **THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAD REVIEWED THIS STORY...**_

 _ **See ya next time.**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.**_

 _ **Yo, long time no see folks. Im glad I had time to finish this, was in kind of a rush.**_

 _ **My bf said that she wanted to post my other story from wattpad on this sight as well. So you might get a new story from me. Wattpad is really depressing with the lack of reviews, but its probably because of the too common plot. Well if she does do it, i would be very happy if you read and commented.**_

* * *

 _ **INARI BLESSED**_

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke stood across from each other. With a silent signal, they began to move through a fluid dance of taijutsu. Sasuke's taijutsu was high genin level at best, while Naruto far exceeded Sasuke even with his gravity and resistance seals on, reaching high chunin level.

The spar lasted for some time, in then end the both of them decided to take a break, though Naruto was far from tired.

"You seem worried, Naru." Sasuke muttered as he gazed at his unusually quiet friend.

"I am."

"Is it because of what Kakashi sensei said?" Sasuke and the other two had already been informed about the conclusions arrived by the jonin.

"Yes…. I knew that there was someone behind the incident seven years ago… but the thought of meeting that man unsettles me. It is not as much fear as it is anxiety. That man did cause a major turn of my life after all…" Naruto said as he silently stared at the flowing water of the stream nearby.

Sasuke nodded in understanding. "I know there is more that you are not telling me. I respect your secrets, so I will not pry. Regardless, I want you to know that as your friend, I will always stand by you…"

Naruto looked at Sasuke with a grin, "Getting sappy with me now, are you Sasu chan!"

Naruto was very much relieved by Sasuke's words.

Sasuke's eyebrows twitched in irritation; "Dobe"

"Teme" Naruto countered with a grin.

"You know that my parents were married before my birth." Sasuke clarified.

"And you know that I am not really a dead last."

"Hn"

With that both of them turned silent. Relishing the comfort in their usual banter. For Naruto, it was an anchor to further convince his mind of who he is and for Sasuke it was confirmation that Naruto still valued him as a friend.

* * *

"So what have you decided?" Kakashi asked the two rouge ninja in front of him. Uzume stood next to the wall silently.

Haku was the one who spoke, "We do not want to fight you."

Uzume and Kakashi nodded.

"And…" Zabuza spoke up, "We want to help you take down Gato."

"And what is your reason for that?" Kakashi asked although he already knew the answer.

"Gato betrayed us and for that, that midget will pay. And it is obvious that you need help from how banged up you are from fighting whoever it was that Gato hired."

"The added muscle will help us." Uzume said, "So welcome to the group then."

Haku and Zabuza was surprised at their sudden acceptance.

"Are you not worried that we might deceive you?" Haku asked honestly confused. What would've they done had this been a trap set by Gato?

Kakashi gave his patented eye smile, "We would've been worried about you deceiving us, if it had been possible."

Zabuza narrowed his eyes at the silver haired man, "What do you mean?"

"What he means is that, one of those seals on you renders you incapable of lying to us."

Both Haku and Zabuza's eyes widened.

"So, shall we discuss our next course of actions?" Kakashi asked cheerfully.

* * *

"Do I really have to do this?" Kyoshiro knew it was unbecoming of a thousand year old spirit guardian to whine, but he was in a twelve year old body, so give him a break.

"Sorry Kyo, you're the only one capable of helping him." She was sympathetic for her friend. But her situation was not really that much better so it was hard to be sympathetic.

The three of them had been asked to train the three from Kakashi's team. They had allowed Naruto to train Sasuke, as it would help both of them. And now the result of their sacrifice was standing in front of them annoyed… at them… what right does have the bubblegum and emo have to be annoyed? Kyoshiro felt like growling.

"Sakura, you will be training with me." Yumiko said.

"Why should I be training with you? As if you know anything! Ha! What a joke! I should be training with Shin kun, because he knows a lot more than all of you." There goes the bubblegum ranting on and on about the greatness of her Shin kun.

"Well… I tried talking." Yumiko stepped back with a sigh, and then a downright devilish smile bloomed on her beautiful face.

Sakura and Shin shivered as the killer intent rose, suffocating them like a viper coiled around their lungs.

Sakura looked at Yumiko terrified. Yumiko's long raven hair split apart into nine 'tails' bat-like clawed wings erupted from her back, horns protruding from her head and silver eyes turned red, blood dripped from her elongated fangs.

Sakura screamed terrified.

"Run little human RUN… RUN FOR YOUR LIFE…." The monstrous voice and Sakura began running like her life depended on it (which it did; from Sakura's point of view at least).

"That was easy." Kyoshiro said looking at Yumiko who stood calmly while Sakura was running under the influence of her genjutsu.

Yumiko just shrugged and calmly strode after a running Sakura, "Good luck. I have to go and check on the pinky to see if she needs some additional 'motivation'."

Kyoshiro and Shin was left alone in the clearing.

"So…" Kyoshiro drawled, "I am going to teach you how to keep the biju chakra under control."

Shin scowled, "I don't need any help for that. The sharingan is enough to keep it under control."

Kyoshiro snorted, "Oh really? If I heard right around hundreds of Uchiha with active sharingan was present at the time of the Kyubi attack, so why wasn't the Kyubi stopped?"

"Are you insulting my clan's abilities?" Shin growled.

"Where did you get that idea from? I was simply pointing out the fatal flaw in your argument. And while I do believe that it will be infinitely easier to keep the Kyubi's chakra under control since both the seal and sharingan are present; you still need proper training."

Seeing Shin's petulant scowl, Kyoshiro had to physically stop himself from smashing the Uchiha to the ground.

"In case you have forgotten, the one we're fighting happens to be a seal master; who already knows how the yondaime's seal works and have successfully tampered with it once. So there is a very high chance that your seal will fail. We have to be prepared for such a situation. Your sharingan won't be enough if the seal fails. By the way, what level is your sharingan?"

Shin smirks and activates three tomoe in each eyes. Two fully matured sharingan eyes. Kyoshiro was concerned. He knew that the abundant biju chakra will make his eye advance much more quickly and with the boy's attitude, such power will turn out to be a liability to them in the future. There is a high chance that if even one tail worth of chakra leaks out of the seal, his sharingan may go further.

On the outside, Kyoshiro kept his face emotionless and nodded.

"I want you to start by meditating and trying to further strengthen your mental barriers."

"That's all you are going to teach me?" Shin scowled. "To meditate?"

"You expected something else? My job is to make as less susceptible to the chakra's influence as possible, and that is what I am doing. If you have a problem, suck it up. Because both of were given an order by our superiors and insubordination is a crime."

With much reluctance, Shin tried meditating. While he meditated, Kyoshiro used his rather weak connection with the biju chakra to keep it calm to the best of his abilities.

Kyoshiro had a very bad feeling about the upcoming fight.

* * *

"What are you doing to my men?" Gato asked the strange missing nin that had quite forcefully offered help. He was placing some kind of seal on each and every one of Gato's men for unknown reasons; no one had the nerve to object; as the man was crazy and brutal.

"This will make them stronger." The man replied simply, still continuing to put the seal on another thug.

Gato was both surprised and pleased with this; so were the thugs who heard this.

"The seal gives them the power to drain chakra, increase their speed, strength and pain tolerance by four times. This will give you an edge on those Konoha shinobi and Zabuza."

Gato was confused, "Konoha shinobi? But why would I have any problem with them. The bridge builder is dead and they left, right?"

"Oh you poor fool… I am 99% sure that the bridge builder is still alive. The Konoha shinobi are still here and if I am right in my assumptions, Zabuza and Haku have joined them." He had paid a little visit to the bridge builder's house earlier. Being a seal master himself, he had immediately noticed the security and detection seals and had made sure to keep out of their boundaries.

He knew the two Konoha jonin was inside the sealed area, so it can only mean that the bridge builder was alive, or they were trying to protect the man's daughter and grandchild. Also the customized seal was the sign of a seal prodigy; one real close to mastery. He really hoped that the seal prodigy was the same child that had slipped past his plans last time. If that was the case, he would be a really happy man. Not that he was any less happy at the moment, he giggled. And even if it wasn't the Uzumaki kid, he'd still get to slaughter some Konoha shinobi.

He wished he could get the new jinchuuriki as well, that would be so fun. He grinned.

Gato growled, "So that Zabuza tried to trick me?" For a moment he had forgotten that the midget was still there.

"I have no idea about that, but I know that I'll be having some much needed fun in a few days." He giggled.

Gato mean while was thinking on how to further use the seals, if all his men had the seal; by the end of the battle and once the shinobi all were weak, he could use his men to kill them and collect all their bounties.

"Hey, you could give me one of those seals too?" Gato asked.

"Hmm…" the man looked thoughtful, the grinned, "I'll give you an even better one."

A cold chill ran down Gato's spine as the man chuckled coldly.

* * *

TWO DAYS LATER

Team 11 stood at the bridge guarding Tazuna as he worked.

The last two days had been disturbingly quiet. Not even Gato's thugs were seen. Paranoia was setting in. Since Tazuna had already started working at the bridge, it was obvious that Gato would know about him being alive.

The bridge workers were acting more confident, thinking that it was the presence of the shinobi that had drove away Gato. But Naruto almost had a sick feeling in his gut, like something terrible was going to happen. And he knew that both his friends shared the same feeling.

"What do you think is going to happen, sensei?" Yumiko asked quietly.

"Something terrible" Uzume spoke solemnly.

"And I have this feeling that somehow we are ill-prepared for whatever is coming." Kyoshiro said.

"Multiple chakra signatures approaching" Yumiko said. "Civilian level"

"I can sense their ill intent, probably Gato's thugs." Naruto spoke as he stood straighter.

"I wonder why he didn't send his mysterious shinobi." Uzume asked. "Evacuate the bridge. Although it is unnecessary, precautions are better than cure."

Naruto and Kyoshiro nodded and moved towards the workers. A few choice words had the workers warily moving towards the opposite end of the bridge.

Suddenly Naruto and Kurama tensed and both turned their attention in the direction to the village centre. Both their eyes widened as they felt it.

"Naruto? Kurama?" Uzume asked warily. Yumiko concentrated on sensing whatever had caught their attention.

"There is an erratic chakra usage going on in the direction of the village centre. A battle." Yumiko confirmed.

"Not just any battle, they got civilians involved. We can feel their fear." Naruto said.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Just as Kyoshiro stopped speaking Uzume had to block an incoming sword strike.

"Fast" Uzume said with narrowed eyes as the bandits moved in to fight. It wasn't too fast for a ninja of her caliber, but it was definitely faster than what these thugs should be capable of.

With the workers safely out of the way, the four ninjas engaged the bandits in fight.

Uzume used taijutsu on the bandits that she was facing and quickly found out that it was a very bad idea.

As soon as her fist had connected with the thug's jaw, her eyes widened and she jumped back away from the grinning thugs.

"Heh! The ninja bitch is afraid of us boys." One thug sneered.

Beside her, her three students had mimicked her actions by jumping back.

"They're draining our chakra." Yumiko stated.

"And they've somehow boosted their abilities." Uzume added.

"It's a seal. I have heard about those before." Naruto said.

The thugs chuckled mockingly once they heard the boy talk. Their laughter soon stopped as Naruto said the next sentence,

"Just don't touch them. Strike them down with projectiles." Naruto's nonchalant reply had the thugs fidgeting. One of the braver souls growled and stepped forward to finish of the brat. He didn't know what hit him, before he had a kunai sticking out of his throat; courtesy of Uzume.

"You're right. Strike them down my minions." Uzume said with a sadistic chuckle.

"Attack!" the thugs roared out and moved towards the ninja.

Uzume ducked under an out stretched fist and buried her kunai in the stomach of a thug, careful not to make contact. But even she was a little disturbed to see the man still fighting with his stomach torn open; as if he didn't feel any pain. Maybe a part of the seal. She mused and continued dodging the thug's more sluggish strikes. As she continued fighting, she slowly watched the man die from blood loss, she wasn't even sure whether he knew he was dying or not.

Kyoshiro was doing good work with Tamashi and Senshi. He had to release all of his resistance and gravity seals to get an edge on the improved thugs. Naruto and Yumiko had done the same. Naruto had Akaikaze out and Yumiko was busy throwing kunai after kunai at the thugs.

All of them froze as they felt the unmistakable evil aura that filled the air.

"Kyubi…" Kyoshiro uttered.

* * *

 ** _Sorry to kind of abruptly end it and all. But my muse kind of went to sleep, so... sorry. Well see ya later._**

 ** _Review if ya like it._**


	13. Chapter 13

_**I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.**_

* * *

 _ **INARI BLESSED**_

* * *

"Sensei, do we all have to come to guard Tsunami san?" Sakura whined as team 7 followed Tsunami to the market. She was thinking of the different things she could be doing now instead of going to the market, but she was glad that at least her Shin kun was with her.

Kakashi sighed for the umpteenth time. Was this his punishment for reading porn in public; being the sensei to two insufferable brats. The only student he enjoyed having around was Sasuke.

"Sakura, the enemy is strong. We cannot take chances when it comes to client safety." Kakashi tried to make the girl understand.

"Bu-"

' _THAT'S IT!'_ Kakashi thought out raged as the obsessed fan girl just couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"Genin Haruno, if you question my orders once more, I will be reporting you for insubordination and you can kiss your ninja life goodbye after that." Kakashi said coldly. He couldn't really do that, but she didn't need to know that. For the smartest kunoichi in class, she was pretty dumb.

Sakura paled and looked at her 'boyfriend' for help. Shin narrowed his eyes at Kakashi, but he didn't out right expose Kakashi's little lie. He would take any chance he could get to keep the pink harpy's mouth shut, so he sent a 'helpless' glance at Sakura, implying that Kakashi could do what he said. Sakura was horrified and so she decided to keep her mouth shut, fortunately for everyone else.

Kakashi heaved a sigh as he walked forward, Tsunami sent a sympathetic glance towards the man.

The slight shift in the air was the only sign Kakashi got before he took out a kunai to stop the blade that would've taken his head off. He narrowed his eyes at the thug who grinned. Of course had it been a ninja or had been using any chakra Kakashi would've sensed him long before he could come near him. But it was just a thug; a thug whose speed unsettled Kakashi.

Ignoring the screams of Sakura and Tsunami behind him; he quickly (not as quick as he would've liked) dispatched the thug. The feeling when his fist contacted the thug's skull was even more unsettling. It was the same feeling he had when he was fighting that unknown shinobi with Uzume, the feeling of his chakra being drained.

Kakashi cursed and moved his headband to use the sharingan; which was a bad idea if his chakra was going to be drained; but he had to see. And see he did.

The sharingan's vision exposed the seal drawn across the downed thug's chest and Kakashi cursed even more loudly when the sharingan also exposed the numerous thugs coming from all directions all with similar seals.

"Sakura protect Tsunami san. Sasuke, Shin; take out the thugs but do not make direct contact with them. Use kunai and projectiles, no close range ninjutsu or taijutsu." Kakashi ordered hastily as the thugs closed in with high chunin speeds, which he thought was very very bad for them. And to his horror, he saw that Sakura was pretty much useless, looking at her hero for help; while said hero had rushed in to attack a thug disregarding his orders. Sasuke however was doing his best to dodge the thugs who were trying to get a hold of him all the while having to depend on his natural speed and weapons.

Kakashi would've moved in to help his students but was having to deal with the thugs who were coming for him.

The screams of civilians filled the air as Kakashi noticed that the thugs were attacking any one they could; civilian or shinobi.

Kakashi used a shunshin to escape and appeared in front of a little girl who would've been impaled by a thug's kusarigama and stopped the thug with a kunai to his head. Another body flicker and he handed over the child to a civilian and ordered them to get inside the village hall (the place where functions used to be held before Wave become poor. It was big enough to hold the entire population of Wave) and hide.

Kakashi made three shadow clones and the four of the rushed in four directions telling the civilians to escape into the village hall and killing of thugs one by one, because knocking them out was not enough to keep the seal out of commission. Any unfortunate civilian who stumbled on a knocked out thug got their chakra sucked out (everyone had chakra, as it is part of the life force) and chakra depletion in case of civilians were more deadly than for shinobi who were used to chakra depletion and had a faster chakra production compared to civilians. The seal got disrupted once the thug died because it was dependent on the thug's life force.

The fight continued as the people of Wave tried to escape the army of thugs. Kakashi fought using his full speed and abilities to help rescue the civilians and kill the thugs.

The fight continued for sometime for long before they felt it.

Everyone suddenly froze in place as they felt it. Kakashi (and his clones) snapped his head towards the direction of one of his students.

' _No! Kyubi! This feels worse than twelve years ago.'_

* * *

 **With Shin**

Shin had rushed his opponent thinking it would be a piece of cake; after all they were just petty thugs.

The moment his kunai connected with the thug's jugular and blood poured out; Shin didn't freeze up like many would on their first kill, but instead he felt a dark excitement bubble inside him. He wanted to see more of the crimson liquid pouring out. His momentary excitement was forgotten when another thug got a hold of his hand and a knee to his chest forced the air out of his lungs and snapped a few bones.

He could feel the chakra healing him quickly, but he could also feel something leaving him. Belatedly he realized it was his chakra that was leaving him. But he didn't panic, because as more and more chakra left him, he was filled with something different. A different more powerful chakra that revitalized him and made him feel incredible.

The chakra beast inside him pushing more and more chakra out the seal as the body's natural chakra depleted. It wasn't long before the thug screamed, the corrosive chakra that entered through the absorption seal burning his insides.

Shin smirked as the thug convulsed on the ground hacking up blood and bile, and weakly trying to get his arm out of the boy's; no, monster's grip. Shin didn't let go, watching in fascination as the thug's own power worked against him. The corrosive chakra felt like acid in his veins to the downed thug, the seal that made him strong was now torturing him. The seal had absorbed enough chakra earlier to keep him alive despite the corrosive chakra trying to kill him; it only made the pain last longer. Soon the chakra inside the seal ran out and the thug felt thankful for the death that embraced him.

Shin sneered and let go of the thug's hand. And stepped towards the other thugs who were watching him in horror. They took a fearful step back as they saw the red eyes of the monster shift. The white part of the eye turned black and the sharingan with three tomoe merged with the pupil and then the pupil expanded into an eight point star with its edges slightly curled and not touching the end of the red iris. His hair became wilder and more feral looking, the nails sharpened into claws and his body becomes bathed in transparent black aura (without the presence of Kyoshiro the beast chakra assumes the original colour which is black).

Shin laughed; starting from a chuckle into a full blown manic laughter.

" **Yes! Yes! This is the power I needed…. This is the power of a true Uchiha"**

Without waiting for the monster to stop laughing the thugs ran for their lives. But they were not that lucky.

A ripple broke across the image of Shin and then he was standing at the end of the road where the thugs had run to. With a deranged smile and a whisper,

" **Amaterasu** "

The thugs burned in black fire. There screams bringing a sense of foreboding to everyone present.

* * *

 **With Sasuke**

Sasuke heard what Kakashi said and he knew why his sensei said that. He had heard of the enemy's ability to absorb chakra, so he figured that the thugs might have the same power. He activated his sharingan which was the only thing that helped him escape the thugs, because they were all fast enough to be high chunin at least. With his sharingan he saw the seal on their torso.

He ducked under a thug's outstretched arm and hit the guy in the leg with a kunai and jumped back before the guy could grab him again. They just kept on coming no matter what he did to them, like they felt no pain. The only way to deal with them was to either knock them out or kill them (which Sasuke was yet to do). And they were just too many of them.

He kicked a crate that was lying nearby towards a thug and watched as it broke apart as it made contact. The guy was bleeding but still grinning. Whatever seal it was, it only kept them from feeling the pain, it didn't stop the damage. But they also had an accelerated healing that was annoying as hell (he was glad that the healing wasn't up to Naruto's or even Kyoshiro's level).

He was tired of this game of jumping around like a monkey not able to do much damage because those thugs were too damn fast. And his chakra capacity had taken a hit. It was time to end this.

He used his sharingan to look around and spotted a woman fallen down on the ground a little away from the thugs aside from her the street was mostly empty void of civilians as most had cleared the path of the fighting ninja and thugs. With that he made up his mind, he kicked the nearest thug in the chest fully aware of the drain it caused and used his full speed to reach the woman.

He stood in front of the unconscious woman in a protective stance. The thugs turned around to look at the boy. The fact that he was standing in front of a woman caught their attention and they laughed.

"Look at that, kid's trying to play hero. Well maybe after we are done with the kid we can have some fun with the sleeping beauty."

"Yeah, thanks kid, might not have seen her if it wasn't for you."

Sasuke glared at them sharingan full on active. In a puff of smoke about six kunai appeared, three in each hand.

"We've already seen what you could do kid. And you already know that you can't hit us."

"Yeah we're too good kid."

"So just keel over and die will ya bastard."

In a second the kunai whizzed past the thugs. Two of them caught two kunai and the others kunai just landed around them, seemingly due to bad aim. The thugs laughed mockingly.

Then Sasuke smirked and the thugs knew no more.

Sasuke crossed his arms across his chest, "Only one person calls me a bastard and gets away with it. And too bad none of you're him." _'Got to thank the dobe for the kunai'_

It was only after the punch dialogue that Sasuke saw the destruction he had caused. The kunai he had thrown were the special kunai that had the explosion seal engraved on them; a gift from Naruto. Sasuke felt bile rise in his throat at the sight of the severed limbs and charred bodies that was left in the wake of the explosion.

' _I killed them'_ His face paled and his arms started shaking. He knew what he had to do; he took a deep breath and pushed the thoughts away from his mind. _'Now's not the time to think about this. Not now. I have to finish the mission.'_ The thought kept repeating in his head. But the sight of the charred bodies had been imprinted in his mind thanks to the sharingan. On the verge of breaking down, Sasuke was starting to panic.

' _They might've had a family. I killed them. I killed-'_

"Pl-please don't h-hurt me…." Sasuke's train of thoughts was cut off as he heard the whimper. He looked down and saw the woman, barely conscious and afraid; afraid that he would harm her. What the thug had said earlier passed through his mind, and his shaking subsided. He knelt beside her, his mind going blank.

"I won't hurt you. I'm one of the ninja's with Tazuna san."

The woman looked at him with wide tearful beautiful black eyes; eyes so much like his mother's. He automatically lifted the crates that had fallen atop her and lifted her into his arms.

"Thank you." She whispered and passed out. Looking back at the thugs, he was not surprised to find that he felt no longer guilty.

' _If they had family, those families are better off without scum like them.'_ With that thought he took off with the woman to find a safe shelter.

One of his sensei's clone or perhaps it was the real him; whoever it was pointed at the village hall where the civilians had taken shelter. It was just as he reached the shelter and handed over the unconscious woman to the other civilians who were treating the wounded to the best of their abilities; his eyes met that of Sakura's.

' _Good! She at least had enough wits to bring Tsunami san to safety.'_ He thought seeing the woman standing beside her, scared and worried but unharmed. It looked like Sakura wasn't really doing anything else besides standing there.

Sakura ran up to him suddenly; "Sasuke, where is Shin kun? I was so worried about him… Is he alright? I know he's strong bu-"

'SLAP'

Sasuke didn't know nor care what prompted him to do it; but he can't deny that it felt damn good.

Sakura stood there clutching her swelling cheek with tears in her emerald orbs.

"For once, be useful and help us instead of being a worthless fan girl. If you're a kunoichi, start to act like one." He didn't yell; he didn't have to, seeing as his point had been made clear. Sakura took a step back at the coldness she saw in his eyes. She was frozen in place by the glare; and even without the sharingan it was one hell of a glare.

Sasuke sneered at her and moved towards the door he had entered through. The Kakashi clone that was guarding the door looked at him in the eye. But Sasuke didn't see any disapproval there. Kakashi nodded at him and turned back to look at the approaching thugs and readied a kunai.

' _If this continues on any longer, we'll be out of kunai.'_ They both thought as the wave of thugs approached him.

Suddenly the thugs fell to the floor with eyes wide open; dead before they knew it.

"Thanks Haku." Kakashi murmured seeing the glinting of the senbon lodged within their throats. Haku appeared beside then in a water shunshin and nodded; his hunter mask firmly in place.

"Thought you might need some help. And it would be a waste to miss out on such a good battle." The gruff voice of Zabuza said from a little ahead of them. Kakashi was thankful for their arrival. With a sword like that, Zabuza could fare much better against these thugs than them.

Suddenly time itself seemed to stop as the dark aura filled the air.

"Kyubi…" The Kakashi clone whispered and Sasuke's eyes widened in shock and fear. Haku was confused and terrified. Zabuza had a grim expression beneath his mask. _'A jinchuuriki! Of all the things that could happen; it had to be a fucking jinchuuriki!'_

"Did the seal…" Sasuke was almost afraid o finish. The clone shook his head.

"No… at least not yet."

That did little to calm Sasuke.

Inside the hall, the civilians were shaking as the oppressive feeling washed over them.

* * *

Naruto raced through the trees, jumping from branch to branch with precision and speed as he made his way towards the feeling of Kyubi's chakra. His sensei and team were handling the thugs that remained at the bridge. He hoped that Shin was still in control; but his pumping heart made it clear that even that thought wasn't comforting.

Kyoshiro had warned him. Without the soul, even a tail worth of chakra was enough to make the jinchuuriki lose control. The original role of the jinchuuriki was to contain the chakra; not to control it. Controlling only became possible when both the soul of the spirit guardian and the jinchuuriki was present; knowingly or unknowingly. If Shin loses control, then it was over for everyone.

As ironic as it was; Naruto, Kyoshiro and Yumiko were praying that the sharingan was enough to keep the chakra under control. But the steady state, at which the chakra was increasing in output, was discouraging. Naruto desperately pushed more chakra into his legs to reach his destination faster. It was times like this that he really wished that he had cracked the Hiraishin seal.

He didn't feel any chakra. It was the emotions he felt; the vile emotions of arrogance, glee and hatred. Naruto poured chakra into the leg that made contact with the tree branch and propelled himself backwards, just as the source of the emotions he had felt, came barreling through the foliage and with a punch, turned the branch he had stepped on earlier into saw dust.

Flipping in the air and landing on the ground, Naruto tensed his muscles to make the necessary move as he watched the man crashed onto the ground creating a crater almost ten feet wide. The man stood up dusting himself, unfazed by even crashing on to the ground like he had.

As the huge form of the man straightens himself, Naruto warily noted the features of the figure. He was almost 7 feet tall with bulging muscles that put professional builders to shame. His biceps were almost as wide as Naruto's chest. If the muscles weren't scary, what scared Naruto more was the ease with which the man moved, as if that much muscle mass didn't hinder his speed. He had no shirt on, only a pair of torn pants that clung to his body like second skin; as if the fabric had been stretched to accommodate a sudden growth spurt.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and he channeled chakra into his eyes. He felt the changes happening and his vision shifted, his eyes adjusted to the 360 degree vision of the Byakugan and chakra pathways lit up before his eyes, time slowed down by the power of the sharingan and increased his comprehension of the seal that now became visible on the man's torso entirely covering it in inky black drawings that only the sharingan could see.

The man stared in a moment of wonder as the eyes of the beautiful blond boy shifted from their cerulean blue.

Naruto's eyes were now golden with the pupil expanding in the shape of a blooming silver rose and covering the entire expanse of his iris. The gold now visible only through the gaps left by the silver petals.

"Pretty eyes for a pretty boy like you. Too bad it's not enough to beat me." The man mocked his voice deep and gravel like a grunting beast's.

Naruto was silent as he observed the huge man.

' _A Chakra Confinement seal combined with a Chakra_ _Draining seal on top of a Yin Manifestation seal. This is bad…Whoever did this is a master of the sealing arts; but it's incomplete; fatally flawed…'_

"Too scared to speak, babe? Here, let me give you an offer. Come with me and become one of my concubine and I will make sure that you could live the rest of your life in luxury."

The obvious lust in the man's eyes and skin crawling emotions that rolled off of the man in waves made Naruto want to puke; despite that he kept his composure and merely raised an eyebrow.

"Oh and who might you be to make such an offer?"

"Me?" The man laughed out loud; "I am Gato; the soon to be ruler of Wave."

* * *

"That the last of them here?" Uzume question as the last of the thugs at the bridge fell.

"Yes sensei, I can sense no more here." Yumiko said panting slightly.

"We need to go and assist Naruto." Kyoshiro said and silently handed a chakra pill to both his comrades, which they took.

"Yes, I can feel Naruto's chakra, it's chaotic. He is yet to make it to Shin; someone has interpreted him… but I can't sense his opponent. All I know is that he is fighting someone."

Uzume stood tall.

"Kyoshiro, Yumiko go to Naruto and assist him if needed. I will be going towards the market place where Shin is."

Yumiko and Kyoshiro nodded and took off without another word.

* * *

The maniacal laughter and the deranged look in his eyes confirmed Naruto's suspicions about the flaw of the seal.

The seal on Gato was designed to increase a person's power by absorbing the chakra stored inside the Chakra Confinement seal and using yin manifestation to increase body mass and overall physical capacity by at least a hundred times(if used properly); very similar to the biju cloak of jinchuuriki. But the chakra that is stored should be very potent; and by the feel of the chakra that is being used by Gato, this seal contains nature chakra at its purest. A variation of the sage mode; one could say.

But Yin manifestation had a very terrible problem if the person using it is weak willed the seal will slowly cause an imbalance between his/her Yin-Yang chakras, slowly making the person lose his mind. Add the stored nature chakra to the equation and you have a living chakra bomb capable of taking out the entire wave country.

"This just got a lot more complicated." Naruto whispered to himself.

"So what do you say?" Gato asked.

"Well I have to say-"Not even trying to finish his sentence Naruto descended on Gato with his maximum speed.

He saw the blow coming with his sharingan but wasn't fast enough to stop it as Gato's fist impacted with his midsection. The man moved at anbu level speeds.

Naruto was thrown to the ground creating a crater. Naruto didn't need his Byakugan to know that Gato had entirely decimated his abdomen with one punch and there was a major drain in his chakra. Large enough that he could feel it despite his abnormally large reserves. A normal man would be dead by now, but Naruto was lucky he was not so normal.

Naruto vanished in a shunshin just as Gato's fist made contact with the ground that he was on earlier. The crater doubled in size.

From the top of a tree Naruto winced seeing the destruction. Holding his midsection and applying his medical skills to assist his natural healing in fixing his innards that he was pretty sure, had been turned to mush.

Naruto didn't dare make a noise as he leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree in pain.

"Found you…"

Naruto's eyes widened in horror as Gato suddenly appeared in front of him in the tree trunk.

"One way or another; I'll get what I want…." The mad man's chuckles resonated in Naruto's head.

Before Naruto could even think of moving, he was already trapped in Gato's arms, his chakra draining with each passing second and blood pouring freely out of his abdomen.

Gato tightened his grip on the squirming boy, enjoying how he tried and failed to release himself from his grip. Naruto's chakra was being drained before he could heal and he could feel the darkness closing in on him and Gato's chuckles somewhere in the back of his mind. He could feel Gato's breath washing over his throat as the man placed open mouthed kisses that disgusted Naruto even in his tired state.

And before his vision was engulfed in darkness Naruto said one last word that decided the end of that battle.

* * *

 ** _Here's the next chapter. Hope you like it._**

 ** _Please review so I may know your opinions and thanks to all those who reviewed my last chapters._**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Finally… I had this chapter completed for some time now, but my internet decided to be an asshole.**_

 _ **Well I am not going to start ranting now; I'll do it at the end. For now,**_

 _ **Hope you enjoy the chapter.**_

 _ **I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.**_

* * *

 **INARI BLESSED**

* * *

Gato tightened his grip on Naruto.

Naruto shuddered in disgust as he felt the man kiss his neck. But it was a good thing that the man's focus was gone. Naruto gazed at the seal he had drawn on Gato's forearm with his blood. Gato had thought that Naruto was simply struggling to get out of his hold.

Naruto stopped struggling as he felt more chakra leave him.

"What? Finally gave up?" Gato taunted.

" **Sealing Art: Restoration** " Naruto said quietly in reply and pumped chakra into the seal. The result was immediate.

Gato felt his limbs getting heavier and could no longer hold his hands up. His hands became limp and Naruto was free. He lost his footing and fell down and met the ground.

Naruto held on to the tree to stay up. Blood dripped from his lips and an open wound in his abdomen.

Gato looked at the boy with barely concealed horror and more prominent anger.

"What the fuck did you do?!" He roared in fury. His limbs felt like they weighed as much as a mountain.

Naruto gave him a bloody grin.

"You'll find out soon."

Then Gato screamed anew as he felt the searing hot pain in his entire body.

"AHHHHHH!"

Naruto tuned out the incessant screaming. He let out a pained sigh and slid down the tree to rest on the ground. He needed to get to Shin as soon as possible, but in this state he would only be a burden.

With hooded eyes he watched as Gato screamed and thrashed in pain. He was no sadist but Gato deserved everything he got.

Gato's body shrank down to its original size; his muscles tore apart as the yin chakra that manifested them got drained down to the original level. Naruto watched dispassionately as Gato's entire body shredded apart. The screams didn't end; of course Gato wouldn't die from this alone.

The Restoration seal Naruto had drawn was removing all the yin chakra that didn't belong to the body and was bringing the body back to the original level. It was a seal used to help people who had foreign chakra in their system and is very helpful for chakra poisoning. The seal suppressed all of the foreign yin chakra that had caused Gato's sudden growth spurt; this caused the heavy damage to his muscles and the body returning to its original state.

The next part was what Naruto was not looking forward to.  
Now that the Yin chakra was gone, the chakra confinement seal will fail slowly, releasing every bit of Nature chakra held within it in a chakra blast. It was unavoidable at this point and if all went well, Naruto can turn this in his favor.

Naruto stood up. Most of his wounds had already healed.

Taking a deep breath he made twelve clones.  
Nine of the clones along with the original Naruto surrounded the still screaming Gato. The other three clones stepped back and kept guard.

The ten surrounding Gato, kneeled down on one knee and placed their left palm on the ground, right hand in the tora sign.

" **Uzumaki Art: Chakra Chains** "

Pure white chains erupted from Naruto's back and moved towards Gato. The chains wrapped around the thrashing man and held him down.

Sweat rolled down Naruto's foreheads as he concentrated. He changed his hand sign once Gato was restrained and the chains began absorbing the nature chakra inside Gato and transferring it to Naruto.

The influx of nature chakra healed him completely. But the absorbing rate was too slow for his liking. He tried to speed up the absorbing without causing an imbalance. It was harder than he thought. The confinement seal was only slowly breaking, so he couldn't extract anymore chakra without completely cracking the seal, but that would end up in an explosion. Even with nine clones assisting him it was too slow. But Naruto had no time left. He had to get to Shin as soon as he can.

His senses registered the presence of his teammates. The three clones standing guard, turned to face the duo that emerged out of the trees.

"Naruto!" Kyoshiro and Yumiko called out as soon as they saw him.

"Naruto are you alright?" Kyoshiro asked seeing the blood staining the ground as well as Naruto.

"He's alright now..." It was one of the clones that answered.

"Hey..." clone Naruto mumbled. "Guys, go to the market place. Boss will manage it here. There's nothing you can do here anyway."

"But what about the biju chakra?" Yumiko asked. "How will we handle it without your chains?"

"Kyo can't you do anything about it? Boss kind of have to do this before Gato explodes and takes half of wave with him." Clone Naruto asked.  
Yumiko and Kyoshiro's eyes widened.

"Alright I'll do what I can. You sure he'll be okay?" Kyoshiro said looking at the group of Naruto kneeling on the ground. The original had yet to say a word since they arrived, too focused on the procedure.

"Yes. Now go." Clone Naruto said.

"Wait! Kyo you can go to the market place. I'll stay here with Naru." Yumiko said.

The clones and Kyoshiro nodded. After all it wouldn't do them any good if anyone attacked Naruto while he was incapacitated using the technique. The clones could only last so long.

"Both of you take care." Kyoshiro said and his gaze lingered as little longer on Naruto.

"We will. You worry about yourself." Yumiko said not missing the look Kyo send Naru.

"Stay safe Kyo." Clone Naruto said.

* * *

Kyo left soon after and Naruto and Yumiko were left alone in the clearing with Gato.

At least they thought they were alone. That was until a blast of wind was sent Yumiko's way. Yumiko jumped out of the way just in time.

"Yumi..." The clones cried out.

Yumiko landed near Naruto and assumed a defensive position. The clones did the same. She extended her senses to find out the person who had attacked them, but there was no chakra signature other than the two of them in the clearing. Whoever attacked them, was like Uzume sensei; able to completely suppress their chakra signature.

Without wasting any time Yumiko created eight clones and the clones erected as eight-point barrier around them.

" **Sealing Art: Eight Point Barrier** "

Two of the Naruto clones chose to stay outside the barrier in defensive stances while one stood inside the barrier with Yumiko and the others.

It was a more advanced version of a barrier seal. The seal could absorb chakra from any external chakra attacks and use it to power the barrier.

"Ah! An eight-point barrier seal. How wonderful!"

Yumiko and the clones turned their attention towards the man who had appeared on the clearing. He had light brown hair, which was midnight black at the ends and piercing golden eyes with the pupil a dull purple colour.

 _'A bloodline?'_ Yumiko wondered.

Other than that, the man had a physique similar to Kakashi san. But there was something unsettling in his eyes, a crazed look that made them wary.

"Who are you?" Yumiko asked slowly.

"Oh, me? I am Michiko Masaru; former Iwa nin, seal master and the guy who trashed both your senseis the other day." The man; Masaru, informed with a grin.

Yumiko stomped down the panic that surged up at the man's proclamation.

"Naru... How long?" Yumiko asked. Even inside the barrier, Yumiko felt unnerved by the man.

"10 more minutes... He's being as fast as he can." The clone grunted. He heard the man speak. If what he said was true, he must be the same guy who released the Kyubi six years ago, or at least an accomplice. And if he really was a seal master, a good one that is, he could easily pick out the flaws in the eight-point barrier seal. Having the memories of every Uzumaki clan head, he knew that many of the barrier seals thought strong can be picked apart quite easily.

And in the ninja world ten minutes was a very long time.

Yumiko gulped. She just have to keep up the barrier for ten more minutes or at least until back up arrives. But in this situation back up was a pipe dream. If Naru takes another ten minutes to finish the procedure, keeping the barrier up was no problem for that long. After all she too was an Uzumaki. But her instincts told her that the barrier was not really a hurdle that the man couldn't pass. And Yumiko always trusts her instincts.

The man circled the edges of the barrier like a predator, still wearing that goofy grin. Yumiko never took her eyes of the man.

The man reached the other side of the barrier.

"Mmm... so you are absorbing the nature chakra to reduce impact eh? Nice! But then you would have to be a sage that also means that you have one of the sage families summon. And is that the legendary Uzumaki chakra chains! So you're really strong huh?"

His grin widened and took a maniacal glint. The clones outside the barrier tensed and prepared for a fight.

"Let's test that shall we?" The man said.

* * *

Kyoshiro raced towards the market place. He felt that he shouldn't have left the two alone back at the clearing but he needed to be at the market place.

The sight that greeted him upon reaching the source of the malicious chakra was Shin crushing the skull of a thug, standing in the middle of mutilated bodies. Shin's eyes made a chill crawl up Kyoshiro's spine. Those eyes... They are the same eyes Madara's father had got from him. His greatest mistake.

But it didn't take Kyoshiro long to understand that these held more power that the eyes he had created.

Kyoshiro sweated at the intense power radiating of the boy. The image of a shadowed monster formed above the boy.

Shin cackled maniacally. Kyoshiro wondered if the boy knew how his voice had been altered into a demonic sound.

"Shin" He said quietly. He was sure that the boy would hear it.

And sure enough, Shin snapped his head towards the source of the voice and he was delighted by who he found. Kyoshiro Kazama stood before him. Shin always hated that guy, his attitude always pissed Shin off, not to mention Naruto... thinking about blonde and Kyoshiro made his blood boil. Power coursed through his vains like an addictive drug.

A dark excitement bubbled inside Shin. He had the power to do it and Kyoshiro was right before him. Shin wanted to tear him from limb to limb, make him beg for mercy, shatter him, torture him to THE POINT THAT HE'D NEVER LOOK SO DEFIANT EVER AGAIN, **SHED HIS BLOOD AND PAINT THE GROUND RED, KILL HIM, KILL HIM, KILL KILL KILL KILL!**

Kyoshiro only had the time to blink before a hand went through his chest.

Shin stood in front of Kyoshiro his entire fore arm going inside Kyoshiro's chest and emerging out of his back.

Shin cackled maniacally, well that was before he noticed that his victim was just standing there with a bored expression on his face. Shin narrowed his eyes when Kyoshiro's bored expression suddenly gave way to a smirk.

With a loud bang 'Kyoshiro' exploded sending Shin flying back. Shin twisted mid air and landed on his feet. His injuries from the explosion healing instantly.

He looked around wildly for the original Kyoshiro.

Instead he got a kunai to the face, which exploded (again) when he caught it, sending him flying once more. Shin growled as he landed, but apparently his landing area was rigged with explosive tags.

Kyoshiro watched as Shin lay unmoving on the ground after the explosion, the chakra cloak gone. Kyoshiro was no fool to think that the explosion would've taken Shin out.

Suddenly Shin raised his head and looked at exactly where Kyoshiro was, startling Kyoshiro as their eyes met.

"Caught you. **TSUKUYOMI** " Shin said with a deranged grin. The chakra cloak burst into life again.

But Shin growled when the one he had used Tsukuyomi on ended up being another clone and burst into a cloud of smoke.

A kick to the back of his head send Shin spiraling forward. Before Shin regained his balance another kick was send to his ribs which connected and an audible 'crack' was heard. A blurry of punches and kicks connected with Shin's chest and head without a moment's delay. Shin crashed into a building. The concrete cracked as Shin was again punched into the building.

Another chakra powered punch directed at Shin's face was blocked by a black spectral ribcage. The attacker seized and jumped back.

Shin's bowed head rose up. All other wounds had already closed up except the right eye which was bleeding, like tears of blood.

Red crazed Sharingan orbs looked at his attacker and glared.

Kyoshiro vanished once more.

Shin let out a scream of rage. " **COME OUT AND FIGHT ME YOU BASTARD!"**

The black Susano had formed completely around him by now.

Kyoshiro took a deep breath as he watched Shin. Well time to bring out the big guns.

A series of hand signs later he bit his finger and slammed his palm on the ground. The smoke drew Shin's attention. He looked towards were Kyoshiro stood.

 **"DECIDED TO STOP HIDING?"**

Kyoshiro narrowed his eyes. Shin watched as the smoke cleared and beside Kyoshiro stood a nine tailed fox. Shin's eyes widened.

The fox was pure white and as tall as Kyoshiro, with nine tails swaying behind it. The fox had lavender coloured eyes which were focused on Shin once it saw him.

Shin started chuckle, **"YOU WISH TO FIGHT ME; THE MASTER OF THE NINE TAILED BIJU WITH THAT THING? A FOX!"** He chuckled again and continued,

 **"IT MAY HAVE NINE TAILS BUT EVEN I CAN TELL THAT IT'S NO BIJU."**

The fox narrowed its eyes at Shin.

" _Kyoshiro sama_ " The fox said with a bow, its voice distinctly feminine.

"Maya... I want to perform a fusion." Kyoshiro said without any prompt.

Shin decided to wait. His power making him arrogant that even if Kyoshiro completed what he was planning on, Kyoshiro will never be able to stop him.

Maya, the nine tailed fox and the head of the fox summons knew better than to question the decision of a former Spirit Guardian. The fox simply bowed its head in acceptance. She was worried, but even she could see that there was no other way.

" _As you wish, my lord_ " With that the fox's tails moved and began to wrap around Kyoshiro's left arm. The tails began to sink into his skin and in a matter of seconds the whole fox had sunk into Kyoshiro. There was an intricate white tattoo of a fox covering Kyoshiro's entire left arm and further disappearing inside his shirt.

 **"THAT'S IT?"** Shin mocked with a chuckle, but before he could finish his laugh a foot was planted firmly on his face, breaking past the susanoo with ease. Shin was surprised as he was thrown back and landed quite far from where he had been at first.

When he looked at Kyoshiro, he was surprised and something primal inside him was terrified and subdued.

Kyoshiro stood before him as tall as Kakashi, looking almost eighteen compared to his previous twelve year old body, silky red hair with silver highlights that went past his waist and fox like eyes one lavender and the other golden, they glowed with a divine power. His face was lean and breathtakingly beautiful and he now possessed a body that could make the entire human kind burn with envy and desire (especially considering how his cloths had stretched to fit the sudden growth spurt). The only thing that came to his mind about the figure that stood before him now was; Divine.

'And powerful' Shin mentally added when a whip made of silver and golden energy broke through his susanoo and hit him in the chest leaving a bleeding wound. And to Shin's at most surprise, the wound didn't heal.

"What? What did you do?" Shin's voice was panicked. Why did the biju chakra fail him now?

Kyoshiro took a step forward and somewhere inside Shin, an instinct that didn't belong to him, told him to run and hide.  
The somewhat sentient biju chakra inside the boy cowered in the presence of the spirit guardian. The chakra beast had pulled back the chakra that was powering the susanoo and mangekyo, causing them to weaken considerably.  
When using fusion with one of his fox summons, Kyoshiro could get a temporary access to his Spirit guardian powers and his former body, but it would be short lasting and would leave him dangerously vulnerable afterwards.  
Even so, he could see the biju chakra cower before his presence. But he knew that it was only buying its time. Once he weakens the chakra cloak will return with a vengence. He would have to completely subdue Shin and reinforce the seal. And he had no other techniques that could subdue a biju unless in his spirit guardian form. So he had to make this quick. He had maybe five minutes before his form dissipated.

A golden and silver aura blazing like fire covered Kyoshiro's form much like the biju cloak. In the blink of an eye Kyoshiro was in front of the boy and had backhanded him into the forest where he had come from earlier.

Shin was dazed. The biju chakra was refusing to heal him. His sharingan had returned to the original three tomoe state.

Kyoshiro appeared before him once more and raised his palm,

" ** _Earth soul: Ensnaring chains_** " Kyoshiro's voice was deep and melodious.

Chains made of earth erupted from the earth and wrapped around Shin and held him down.

" ** _Nature soul: Purification_** "

Shin didn't understand what was happening but he felt his energy leave him. Something, which he thought was the Kyubi snarled inside his mind as Nature chakra; pure and restrained by Kyoshiro; entered his body and began forcefully pushing the biju chakra back inside the seal.

But half way through the process; it stopped abruptly.

And the biju cloak flared back into life instantly. Looking back at Kyoshiro; Shin understood why. Kyoshiro was no longer in his spirit guardian form. Instead he was in his normal form with blood pouring out of his mouth and down on the ground struggling to even get up.

Shin's face split into another one of his maniac grins, "You couldn't stop me." He said. The biju chakar started building up again, but before it could even reach one tails worth,

"He didn't need to." Another voice announced from behind him and Shin had no chance to turn around to look at the person before he started screaming. A giant seal array at least a meter wide appeared on the ground, glowing with chakra and connected to the paper tags placed on five points; with Shin standing in the exact centre.

" **Eight Trigram Beast confinement seal: Activate"**  
The seal glowed a brilliant white and Shin fainted.

Uzume stood in the clearing as the seal subdued the jinchuuriki and the boy fainted.

She looked at the other side where her student was now unconscious and moaning in pain. She walked over to Kyoshiro and lifted the boy up. She had seen the form he used. And the strain it left on his body and chakra coils were obvious. She healed him as best as she could. But for some reason his body rejected her chakra.

Kakashi came out from behind the trees and moved towards Shin. He lifted the boy's shirt up and looked at the seal. The **Eight Trigram Divination Seal** was clearly visible and on the outer edges of the familiar seal another line of seals had appeared, the **Eight Trigram Beast Confinement seal**.

The seal had done its job and the biju chakra was no longer a problem... at least for now.

 ** _Flash back_**

 _"Sensei" Kyoshiro called out as he entered the shelter to see Uzume helping Kakashi and Zabuza finish of the last of the thugs._

 _"Kyoshiro? Why are you here? I thought you would be with Naruto." Uzume said._

 _"No time sensei. Do you have the subduing seals that Naruto gave you both yesterday?"_

 _Kakashi nodded and took out the five paper tags. Naruto had made them yesterday and given them to Kakashi in case Shin lost control._

" _The_ _boss_ _is_ _fighting_ _Shin_ _now_. _Shin's_ _gone_ _past_ _the_ _five_ _tailed_ _state_." _Kyoshiro_ _said_ _identifying_ _himself_ _to_ _be_ _a_ _clone_.

 _"What! Kyoshiro are you crazy?" Uzume said angrily._

 _"Sorry sensei I had no choice but to distract him with a fight or else he might have attacked some civilian."_

 _"We need to use the seals on him." Kakashi said. "But how will we get near him."_

 _"I need you two to set up the seal near the forest. Once you are done, I'll dispel and inform the boss. He'll bring Shin there." The clone said._

 _Uzume and Kakashi looked at Zabuza. Zabuza grunted,_

 _"You two go take care of the brat. We'll handle things here."_ _With a nod they left._

 _They moved to the clearing in the forest and started setting up the seals._

 _"Hey, the seals are strong enough to subdue him upto the five tailed state, but beyond that this seal won't be enough. If the biju chakra is too powerful, it will overpower this seal, we need Naruto." Kakashi said._

 _"Naru won't be able to get here on time." The clone said grim faced, "But the boss has another plan to help with the subduing."_

 _Uzume looked at the clone's solemn face and decided to trust her student for now._

 _~Flashback end~_

Kakashi took the unconscious Shin and Uzume took Kyoshiro.

"Kakashi, Kyoshiro needs help. He's rejecting my chakra, I can't heal him."

Kakashi frowned when he heard this, "Damn it" He said softly.

Both of them moved towards the village hall as quick as they can.

* * *

Yumiko stood inside the barrier scowling and more than a bit worried. The man had dispatched the Naruto clones outside so easily that it couldn't even be called a fight. He just touched them and the clones dispelled due to massive chakra drains.

The clone standing with her was also worried.

This guy was no joke. After all, he did defeat Uzume and Kakashi easily. Or perhaps caught them off guard were the right words to use.

The clone had his dojutsu active and through it he could see the seals carved on to the flesh of the man.

"Oh! a dojutsu too! You're full of surprises." The man chuckled, "Of course I couldn't expect any less from the child of the red death and yellow flash."

Naruto kept his surprise well off of his face. Instead he analyzed the seals further. And what he found was perplexing. The many had so many seals on him; a body enhancement seal, a strength enhancement seal, a regeneration seal, an aura suppressing seal, elemental seals, chakra storage seals, chakra absorbing seals and a confinement seal similar to Gato's, obviously containing some potent form of energy; most likely nature chakra. This was ridiculous, how can one person do so many seals on himself. All those seals would inevitably damage his chakra coils, unless he had a seal to protect his coils, which he didn't.

"You are a fool." Naruto said trying to start a conversation to buy them some time.

"Eh? How can you call me a fool? I am obviously smart enough to make all this wonderful seals. Don't forget that beauty I placed on Gato. A fine work of art, if I say so myself."

"So you made it intentionally so that you could blow up the whole of Wave?" Yumiko asked eyes narrowed.

"No. Not really. I have nothing against Wave actually. I am not even doing this for any money." The man shrugged before continuing with a grin, "But I HATE KONOHA NINJA and I'll take any chance I get to eliminate them. Especially the ones related to a certain blonde bastard. Like that bastard's student Hatake or even better, his son."

"If we were your only target, then why use Gato as a human bomb?" Naruto **(A/N: Remember he is just a clone. The original is still busy)** asked calmly.

"Well, I wasn't planning on it really. Buuuut~ then I saw those seals you drew on the perimeter of Tazuna's house. I knew that one of you was a seal master, my guess was on the mini-yondaime over here, so I sent Gato his way after seeing him leave the bridge. I made this seal to test his knowledge on seals. And that fool Gato thought that I just gave him what he wanted... he he fool."

"You're crazy, what if Naruto wasn't able to do it?!" Yumiko yelled out.

"Then obviously you all would die. It's a win-win situation for me. If you manage to get rid of the seal, then I get to personally fight a seal master. And if you happen to fail, then the seal would get rid of you Konoha ninja. But I must say, the first option was the one I was hoping for."

"And what about the people of Wave? Where do they fit into this?" Yumiko asked almost growling.

"Collateral damage" The man shrugged nonchalantly. Then he looked at the Naruto' working on draining Gato.

"You would've died too, in the blast." Naruto said.

The man shrugged once again, "Eh, So? Who cares."

"You're insane." Yumiko said.

"No... At least not yet. It's a drawback of using elemental seals. I was kind of careless. It messes with the brain you see, memories get jumbled, neural pathways get affected, damages a lot of the baser instincts, but it takes time. So right now, I'm just a little crazy, but give me some more time... then I'll be insane."

Naruto looked at the man, he understood what the man meant by being careless. While placing seals on one's body, the position of the seal was a prominent factor and his elemental seals were dangerously close to some of his nerve points.

"Are they done yet? I am getting bored. I was waiting for him to finish, but this is boring. You both are very good company and all, but I am anticipating something very different from evil monologues that reveal the sinister plan of the villain." The man whined like a child.

Then he looked thoughtfully at Yumiko and the clone Naruto who was standing with her. Moments later a grin appeared on his face.

"Maybe..." He started, "I'll have some fun with you till he's done."

Yumiko's eyes widened as he stepped forward and placed his right hand on the barrier. What is he doing? The barrier wouldn't break like that. And then to her surprise he purpose fully pushed his chakra into the barrier and since the barrier was chakra absorbing, it absorbed his chakra. But instead of what was supposed to happen, his chakra overpowered Yumiko's hold on the barrier and the light purple barrier rippled and shimmered and turned a bright yellow in colour.

Naruto silently cursed as the man stepped back with a smirk.

Placing his hands into a sign that Yumiko recognized and her eyes widened in horror as he said,

" **Eight Point Barrier Seal: Dispel** " And the barrier shimmered once more before shattering into golden dust.

* * *

 _ **Oh My God. This thing has no intention of stopping does it? I try to end the wave arc somehow, but it keeps growing longer and longer. I wow to myself that the next chapter would be the last one of the wave arc… at least I hope so. And wow, my computer got fixed, and then what happens? My internet runs out on me. Ha-ha, very funny, (I am being sarcastic if you didn't know) whoever-is-up-there. I feel slightly crazy today.**_

 _ **Hey guys, review if you like this chapter. I am always eager to hear from you. And thanks to all those who reviewed, you guys are like the rain in a desert.**_

 _ **Oh oh oh and I have a new fanfic out. He-he, I know I am biting out more than I can chew, what with me being able to get to my computer only once or twice in months and all. But I just couldn't, not write it. It's a Naruto dimension jumping fic, check it out if you are interested.**_

 _ **Bye for now… Love you…**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**I do not own Naruto no matter how much I wish I did.**_

* * *

 **INARI BLESSED**

* * *

"It's Playtime…" The man drawled with a giggle.

Yumiko and the clone were still surprised with how the man had destroyed their barrier but quickly got over their surprise. With a silent agreement, the clone stood at a defensive position in front of Naruto while Yumiko engaged the man.

The man simply giggled while dodging strike after strike from Yumiko. He was not going on the offensive at all, almost as if he was playing with her. He giggled occasionally while dodging.

Yumiko jumped back frustrated and sped through hand signs: " **Earth Style: Dragon Dance** " multiple dragons made of earth and stone rushed at her opponent.

The man jumped back and moved his hands in an arc, a wall of stone rose before the dragons and they all smashed into it and shattered.

The clone grimly as the man performed a sign-less jutsu. He looked at Naruto, who was in the last stages of the nature chakra extraction. _'Hurry up boss'_

Yumiko growled and made a hundred shadow clones all of them rushed at the man, trying to overwhelm him.

The man dispatched them with ease even with all of them having high chunin taijutsu.

"You style is good, but shadow clones are useless when fighting someone who can absorb chakra." The man giggled looking at Yumiko. Suddenly he jumped out of the way as the ground he stood at exploded sending a raging inferno at him. He used body flicker, but the fire that now took the form of a phoenix was intended for following him.

"How annoying!" He said and sped through hand signs. The Naruto clone narrowed his eyes when he saw the jutsu he was about to perform.

" **Wind Style: Null Void** " but whatever he hoped to happen didn't. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the clone standing there with a hand sign and a smirk. He didn't get to ponder it before the fire phoenix engulfed him.

Yumiko landed next to the clone.

The charred body of the man was left on the other side of the clearing.

* * *

Yumiko panted and fell to one knee. The clone went to help her up.

"It's not over yet." He said as he held her, without taking his eyes off of the burnt man.

The body on the ground twitched and burnt skin regenerated at an alarming rate and he struggled up, giggling.

Yumiko's eyes narrowed and she looked back Naruto. Before she took a determined step forward, but the clone caught her hand and shook his head.

"You countered my jutsu with your own wind technique didn't you?" The man asked the clone with a smirk.

The clone instead of answering sends three of his explosive kunai flying at the man. The man dodges them expertly only to get a foot planted in his face courtesy of Yumiko. He tries to grab her leg, but a white chain coils around his leg and sends him sailing across the clearing.

The clone looked at the white chakra chain that had shattered like glass after only a second of contact with the man. There was also a massive energy drain, any more and the clone would be toast.

He got no time to ponder on it as the man appeared behind the cone and jabbed at its neck.

Yumiko looked at the smoke that followed the clone's destruction. She admitted to herself that she was scared, but being scared wouldn't save her friends or the village. The only plan now is to persevere until Naruto's done with Gato. She'll deal with the rest afterward if she makes it that far.

To her surprise and relief, the man didn't seem interested in attacking the original Naruto. Instead, he simply turned towards her once again and vanished from sight.

Yumiko tensed and the man attacked her with a series of taijutsu moves that left her worst for wear, especially as each hit she took meant a major chakra drain and the chakra drain led to more hits being taken. It was a vicious cycle that would only end once she was drained of the last drop of her chakra and was left lifeless. Her Dancing Mist Style helped her a lot, but there only so much it could do.

Yumiko lay at the man's feet panting and no matter how much she tried her muscles refused to move. Her chakra reserve was at an all-time low and she closed her eyes to come up with something.

She didn't have time to do anything anymore. The man bends down towards her, with a maniac grin that pronounced her doom.

"Well, it looks like-"

Yumiko looked up to see why the man had stopped.

Blood dripped from the man's mouth. Three chakra chains pierced completely through him, their white color now stained red. One chain had pierced through his throat from behind one pierced through his heart and the next through his abdomen.

"That's enough," A soft voice said from behind the man. Yumiko sighed with a small smile.

The chains pulled back and the man crumbled to the ground like a broken puppet.

The next moment Naruto was standing beside her. He helped her up and moved her away from the twitching man on the ground.

A deranged giggling was heard from the man's prone form. Naruto moved away and placed Yumiko away from the man and he made three clones to protect her.

"I have to finish this" Naruto said and that was the first time she saw his eyes. Her breath hitched as she saw the cross pupil in the middle of the flower design that was his dojutsu.

 _He's manipulating nature chakra. Amazing…_

"Be careful." She said with a small smile. He smiled back and nodded.

Yumiko let the clone heal her as Naruto moved towards the man. She knew he could win.

* * *

"Finally came to play huh?" The man asked giggling.

Naruto observed the man who swaying on his feet, his abdomen and throat healed half way, but there was a gaping hole in his chest where his heart was supposed to be. It was mending very slowly considering his earlier healing rate.

"Now let's start the real game."

Michiko raced at Naruto and Naruto ducked out of the way of his fist and retaliated by kicking Michiko in the stomach. Naruto noticed that his speed had increased drastically due to the influx of nature chakra, which was not really a good thing in the long run for an ordinary ninja. But thankfully Naruto was nowhere near ordinary. But there would be some kind of backlash when the Nature chakra leaves his system. He'll deal with it then.

Right now Naruto could almost keep up with Michiko, almost.

Naruto ducked and weaved through the punches and kicks, avoiding any contact with the man. His dojutsu helped a lot in avoiding being hit.

Jutsu were being fired left and right. The clearing was destroyed now. But Naruto had a sinking feeling that he was fighting a losing battle. The man was too experienced and Naruto's chakra manipulation was out of option because the man simply absorbed them.

Naruto searched his mind for any technique that he could use, but every time he tried to swift through them he ended up being pulled back and forth between memories and got a migraine that left him paralyzed. He tried that once and got about half of his Nature chakra drained as a result.

Naruto couldn't dodge the fireball that came from behind him and got hit. He moved out of the way but not before a majority of his back got burned. He groaned as he felt the pain. He would heal without a scar, given time, but the pain now will hinder his fighting prowess.

Michiko appeared before him, cackling and once again began a barrage of assaults that Naruto could not dodge this time, not when he was crippled by the pain.

Naruto made a water wall to block the fire dragon. A great cloud of steam bellowed out and covered the ground.

Naruto almost screamed when a fist collided with his injured back sending him spiraling forward. He lost even more of the Nature chakra.

As he tried to rise, a foot was placed on his neck pressing him into the burnt grass. Naruto struggled.

"Aw! You are not as strong as I hoped. Too bad."

His chakra was draining by the minute. No! No! I can't let this go on. Ice spikes erupted from the ground and pushed Michiko off of him.

" **Ice Release: Blizzard** " Naruto yelled out and the snow storm hit Michiko dead on. But it wasn't enough. Of course, he only had memories of the technique; he doesn't have any actual practice in it. So it was very weak.

'Damn it! What can I do?' Naruto felt panic when he saw Michiko brush of his technique with a smirk.

Then as if answering his question images began to filter into his eyes.

Something was different though. This time instead of a multitude of memories, it was a name that came to his mind.

 _ **Uzumaki**_ **_Yuichi_** the wielder of the spirit techniques. Fifth daughter of Uzumaki Kentaro and Yoshiki Suba.

And just like that, Naruto let Uzumaki Yuichi's memories take the lead.

* * *

Naruto jumped back to avoid a rock spike that rose from where he stood and then performed a set of hand signs unfamiliar to both Michiko as well as Yumiko who was watching from afar.

" **Spirit technique: Phoenix Cry"** wisps of white, silver and golden energy emerged from the ground as well as Naruto and formed a transparent phoenix.

Naruto had the odd feeling like he was having an out of body experience. He felt that someone else had taken over his controls and he was just sitting there watching.

"Amazing!" Michiko said seeing the technique.

The Phoenix charged at Michiko. He smirked and pulled his hand back forming a sign.

As soon as the Phoenix was near he opened his palm and impacted it with the Phoenix, but it didn't get absorbed like he hoped. Michiko felt his entire being shake as the Phoenix impacted him and disappeared. He felt his body trembling and looked down surprised.

"What- "

Naruto pushed chakra into his left leg and stomped on the ground, multiple spikes of crystal emerged from the ground and Michiko barely escaped. But one of them had cut up his left shoulder. Naruto had risen off the ground before he had any time to recover.

Whatever the technique that hit him earlier was, it had done some major damage although no wounds were visible.

Naruto formed a hand sign mid-air and similar wisps of energy formed multiple blades and rained down on Michiko. His eyes widened when he saw no way for escape, not when his body still felt barely functional.

" **Spirit technique: Slicing Wave"** The blades hit their mark and Michiko was stunned by the pain he felt. And this time too, no wounds formed on him.

"What are you-"The words got stuck in his throat when he saw Naruto's eyes. They were not the dojutsu he had seen earlier nor were they the blonde's normal crystal blue eyes. Michiko found himself looking at startling royal blue eyes, that belonged to a war-hardened warrior and not an eleven-year-old genin.

Naruto's long hair too now had streaks of red in them. Michiko had the strange feeling that the person he was looking at was not the genin he had set his eyes on.

Naruto moved his hands in a circle, a trail of wispy energy leaving his finger tips and forming a circle. He then put both palms together in a prayer position, the and

" **Spirit Technique: Spiraling Spears"** Energy trial erupted from five points of the circle and began rotating and intertwining with each other, became a spear that kept spinning.

Naruto released the prayer position and the spear released.

Michiko's eyes widened and the spear hit him.

Yumiko heard a brief scream that stopped abruptly. When she looked at where the fight took place she was greeted with the sight of Naruto standing over Michiko's dead body.

The clones had dispelled some time during the fight. Yumiko, now healed, wet towards Naruto whose appearance had changed back to normal. He was staring at the dead body with a frown.

"Is he dead?" She asked as she neared him.

Naruto nodded pensively.

She sighed in relief, "You okay?"

Again Naruto nodded. His back was already half healed, but his healing was slowed thanks to all the damage he had taken.

"Come on. We can go to the others."

* * *

 _ **My personal opinion on this chapter is that it is too mundane, not well edited and I probably shouldn't have posted it. But what the hell, I am having a writer's block for this thing and I couldn't work on this chapter any further than this without tearing my hair off in frustration.**_

 _ **So I apologize to all those readers who waited for so long and got this in return. And I also think that I need to finish the Wave Arc because it's been going on for too long and that is once again testing my patience.**_

 _ **It's probably because of the upcoming exams that I am so frustrated and that fever that reduced all my plans to dust.**_

 _ **I will be free by this time next month and hopefully, by then my muse would get kick-started.**_

 _ **Once again I apologize if this chapter is not to your liking. I promise to try harder next time.  
**_


	16. Chapter 16

**I do not own Naruto. Enjoy the new chapter...**

* * *

In Tazuna's house Kakashi and Uzume looked at the tired forms of their students.

Kyoshiro's wounds had been taken care of and he was now resting. Shin was still passed out.

Sasuke and Sakura sat silently, both lost in thought.

Naruto sat next to a tired Yumiko and his eyes looked strangely haunted. Yumiko sat there casting worried glances at Naruto and Kyoshiro.

They had already done a search for any of Gato's surviving men and had disposed of the ones they found.

Zabuza and Haku had searched Gato's bases. All of Gato's prisoners had been released and the money taken from there was given to Tazuna after taking the amount of the S-rank mission and payment for Zabuza and Haku.

Zabuza and Haku had vanished soon after that and they didn't pursue them.

Now they were having to report to their respective Senseis of what happened individually. Sasuke and Sakura had done their part and was now sitting silently as Yumiko spoke.

Uzume had listened as Yumiko reported Naruto's fight with Michiko Masaru and Gato. Naruto was suspiciously silent during it and when they finally asked him on his version of the report,

"I was losing too much chakra and all of my techniques couldn't cause any lasting damage. I..." Naruto swallowed thickly feeling his head hurting and heart hammering but he couldn't remember what happened after that.

"And then what Naruto?" Uzume asked softly.

Naruto blinked, "Well after that everything happened like Yumiko explained Sensei."

Uzume's eyes narrowed, "And those techniques you used?"

"Clan techniques," Naruto said automatically.

Uzume didn't look like she had believed him but she gave in without a fuss. Naruto sat quietly during the rest of the reports, trying to remember what exactly happened after he had tried using his Ice techniques.

But for the life of him, he couldn't remember anything. There is a big blank page in his memory.

It was like he wasn't even there during the fight.

He had heard what Yumiko said, the Spirit Techniques. He knew they belonged to Uzumaki Yuichi and there was also the fact that those techniques were Yuichi's specialty and no one except her had ever been able to use it. To hear that he had been using those techniques...

 _It was like Uzumaki Yuichi was the one fighting... How could her memories take over like that?_

Naruto was afraid. He took a deep breath trying to calm down. Things were getting progressively worse. He had to do something.

After all the reports were done all of them retired for the night.

Golden eyes blinked open and stared unfocused at the ceiling. He lay awake for some time before his senses focused enough to register the two bodies nearby him.

Kyoshiro looked to his side to see Yumiko curled up next to him sleeping soundly. He didn't want to disturb her rest since she looked like she needed it. On his other side, Naruto sat on the floor, knees tucked under his chin and both arms wound around his legs and looking very much like a vulnerable lost kid. Naruto wasn't asleep, but Kyoshiro could tell that he was not all there.

Lost in thought Naruto took a long time to notice that Kyoshiro was awake. And when he finally noticed that he was awake, Naruto did not turn to look at him.

"Naru..."

Naruto hummed, "How are you feeling, Kyo?"

"Fine" Kyoshiro frowned, "Naru, are you alright?"

Naruto nodded but still refused to meet Kyoshiro's eyes, "My wounds are all healed and my chakra level is back to normal."

Kyoshiro's eyes narrowed, "How are you feeling Naru? And I do not mean physically..."

Naruto chuckled, "Don't you even want to know what happened after you fainted, Kyo? The first thing you want to know is about me..." There was amusement in his voice but it felt oddly muted and Kyoshiro huffed.

"Fine" He acquiesced, "Tell me what happened after I fai-"He coughed, "Lost consciousness... How long have been unconscious anyway?"

Naruto smiled and it perplexed Kyoshiro why Naruto refused to look at him. He felt Yumiko stir beside and knew that she was awake. He turned to look at her and she smiled at him sleepily, Kyoshiro smiled back.

"You have been asleep for-"She yawned, "For about seven hours... It's now midnight."

She turned to look at Naruto and he didn't acknowledge or look at her either. Her frown told Kyoshiro that this behavior was worrying her as well.

"Naru, did you get any sleep?" Her tone was soft and sad as if she already knew the answer.

Naruto shook his head, "Can't"

"Naruto..." They all turned to look at Uzume who stood in the doorway.

"You need the sleep... Give your mind a rest."

Naruto unexpectedly cringed at her words and Kyoshiro was not the only one who noticed Naruto's shaking hands.

Uzume spoke softly but sternly, "I know that all you had your actual first kills today. This time it was not a simulation or a genjutsu, you took actual lives and I know it left some impact on all of you no matter how much you say otherwise."

Kyoshiro was silent; this was not his first kill. Both Naruto and Yumiko knew that, but it was Naruto's and Yumiko's. So he let the two seek comfort in Uzume's words.

Next to him, Yumiko shivered and moved closer to him. He let her melt herself into his side and wrapped his arms around her in comfort.

"They deserved to die..." Yumiko said softly. Kyoshiro knew that she was trying to comfort herself.

Uzume didn't refute her words. She had waited until all of her students were awake for having this talk wasting time was not a good thing when it came to talking about their first kills or the like. Letting their mind and thoughts fester would only do more bad than good. She knew that all of her students had a session with an expert in the academy, but she had to make sure her students were alright.

"Death is a part of the profession Sensei. Sooner or later we all have to face it. We knew the risks when we took our career choice and I assume those goons knew the risks as well."

Naruto's voice was cold, uncaring and detached. The other three occupants frowned and all of them were worried.

Uzume dismissed the behavior as Naruto's way of coping and simply nodded, he was right after all. Yumiko was worried that this had nothing to do with their first kills at all. Kyoshiro knew that this was a result of something else and he had a very good guess.

"If you need someone to talk to-"

"I am fine Sensei," He cut her off, it was so unlike Naruto to interrupt her when speaking "But it would be better if you talked with Yumiko..."

Yumiko knew that Naruto meant for it help her and she knew that she needed to talk to someone, but she also hoped that it would've been Naruto and Kyoshiro who would be there to listen to her. She felt oddly left out and hurt. The both of them didn't need help, but she did. That didn't really do her self-esteem any good. And the cold, clinical tone he used was cutting.

Kyoshiro sensed what Yumiko was feeling and he knew that Naruto could as well, but when he refused to speak further Kyoshiro felt irritated.

"Naruto..." There was a reprimand in his tone.

"Sorry," He said but didn't sound sorry at all.

"I think you need more help than Yumiko at the moment Naruto," Uzume said.

Naruto nodded, "I do."

They were surprised when he admitted that.

"But not from any of you..."

He didn't mean it to be so scathing but it did come out wrong. Naruto wanted to correct it when he felt their hurt but he had other things occupying his mind. So he mindlessly mumbled another sorry.

He knew that Yumiko and Uzume left the room soon after. Yumiko decided that she wanted to talk to Uzume right then. Naruto wanted to be there for her but how can he do that, when he can't even help himself?

He thought he had more time. This wasn't supposed to get this bad so soon.

"Naruto..." Kyoshiro began

"I am sorry, Kyo. I really am..."

Kyoshiro nodded reluctantly, "I know... But Naru something is wrong and you're not telling us."

"Can you help me, Kyo?" This time Naruto finally turned to look at him. Kyoshiro sat up on his futon when he saw Naruto's face.

Wariness, fear and so many other emotions so freely on display in that tired look. Kyoshiro could safely say that ever since Naruto was seven, he never saw him look so open and his emotions never felt so raw.

Naruto could only meet his eyes for a moment or two before he averted his eyes to look at the floor instead.

"Naru..." Kyoshiro took hold of his chin and drew him closer. Naruto let Kyoshiro guide him like a doll. It was slightly disturbing to Kyoshiro when Naruto acted like a puppet. Finally, when he was wrapped up in Kyoshiro's arms, Naruto closed his eyes tiredly and leaned into the embrace.

They stayed like that for a few moments before Kyoshiro spoke, "What do you want my help with, Naru?"

Naruto went rigid and Kyoshiro was startled when he suddenly pulled back to look at his face with a confused frown that quickly turned into surprise and fear.

"Naru?"

Naruto moved back abruptly and once again, turned away from him and refused to look at him or even touch him. Kyoshiro was getting more worried and frustrated. It felt like Naruto was slipping through his fingers and he might lose him.

"Naru please just look at me!" Kyoshiro had no idea that he almost shouted those words. But Naruto heard him and still refused to acknowledge him.

"Help me Kyo?"

"With what? How can I help you when I don't know what is wrong? Why don't you tell me?"

"I keep... slipping Kyo. My mind keeps... slipping and I can't... remember... I thought I had more time... But all it took was one time and now I can't... It's all going down too fast and I can't... I can't Kyo"

"Naru?" This time Kyoshiro was very concerned, "Naru is it because of the Memory Fusion?"

Naruto nodded, "Help me Kyo before I lose myself."

There was such fear and desperation in his words that Kyoshiro couldn't take it.

Hands encircled him from behind and Naruto stiffened.

"Don't Kyo..." He said softly.

"Naru, I will help you in any way I can. But I need you to tell me exactly what is wrong. What can't you remember?"

Naruto turned to look at him and after a moment, Kyoshiro noticed how his eyes kept losing focus. Naruto was visibly struggling to stay on the here and now.

"Everything..."

Kyoshiro kept silent and let him speak.

"I keep forgetting that I am not them. I can't remember what happened during that fight with that guy. I can't even look at anyone without-"Naruto stopped abruptly.

Naruto was staring at him this time.

"Naruto..."

He looked confused for a moment and Kyoshiro called him out more strongly. Naruto pulled back confused, then surprised and resigned.

"I need to go." He stood up.

"Wait-"

"I need to go, Kyo." He said more firmly.

Kyoshiro tried to stop him but he was already gone.

* * *

Shin stared at the creature before him. Black energy forming a massive body with nine tails lashing out at the cage bars.

"Kyuubi..." He called out but the creature only thrashed, growled and roared.

Shin frowned; from the notes he found, Kyuubi was supposed to be at least a somewhat intelligent being. But what he is seeing now was a mindless beast with only a penchant for destruction and violence. There was no intelligence in it.

Did the seal do this to it? Or is it something else? Maybe the notes were wrong and the Kyuubi was always like this?

He bit his bottom lip in frustration.

"Kyuubi" He called out louder hoping for but not expecting any reply.

That went well, he thought sarcastically.

"So much for making a deal with the Kyuubi." He grumbled.

The second seal that overlapped with the paper tag on the cage bars looked new. By now he had memorized the Death Reaper Seal and he knew that something had been added to it, though he didn't know what. He was no Seal Master or even a mediocre level at seals. Memorizing the pattern didn't mean anything when it came to understanding seals.

"Maybe I should start studying seals..." He frowned at the thought. Uchiha's generally stuck to their dojutsu prowess and elemental ninjutsu. Too prideful to even admit that they need anything other than the traditional Uchiha techniques. And look at what happened to them, an entire clan slaughtered by the hands of one single enemy. Shin was prideful too, but he was not stupid. He would not end up as those before him.

Getting the council to arrange for someone to teach him seals would be easy enough. He had enough puppets in the council for that, including that pink-haired harpy's father in the council. He would need to put up some act around Sakura as well. It also helped that that old coots would do anything to keep the Uchiha clan under his control. What better way than to butter up the next clan head. But shin also had an ace up his sleeve.

Shin grimly turned back from the bars. It was clear that the new addition to the seal prevented him from accessing the Biju's chakra. He needed to get that off. And for that, he needed a Seal Master. He shook his head, it wouldn't be easy, not at all.

The inaccessibility to Kyuubi's chakra also meant that he would not be able to use his improved Sharingan.

That won't do.

He also had to deal with his Hatake and Seiren. They would be reporting what happened here to the council and he couldn't lose favor with the council if they think that he could easily lose control.

He could lie that the enemy had messed with his seal. Getting the others to support him would be difficult but he can do it. It wouldn't be the first time he had done that.

He needed access to the Kyuubi's chakra, but no one would want to get rid of the limiting seal so soon after he lost control.

What to do, what to do...

Shin looked back at the violent beast and scoffed.

"You're useless to me right now Kyuubi. But don't worry I would find a way to put that power to good use."

* * *

Shin opened his eyes in the real world.

Kakashi was sitting there with his book and as soon as Shin 'woke up' his eyes snapped to Shin.

"Sensei..." Shin whispered and looked around confused. He was back in his room at Tazuna's house.

"How are you feeling, Shin?" Kakashi asked cheerfully.

"Fine Sensei..." He mumbled and tried to sit up but his body protested the moment. He felt sore all over, "What happened?"

This time Kakashi turned serious, "How much do you remember?"

"I... We were at the market... with Tsunami. And then... It all gets kind of blurry after that Sensei. I remember getting attacked but the fights not exactly clear." He bit his bottom lip and concentrated trying to remember.

"I..." He grunted in frustration, "Sensei what happened? Did we win? Are Tsunami-san and the villagers alright? Where's the rest of our team? Where is ... Where are Otouto and Sakura-chan? Are they alright?"

Kakashi looked at him dubiously for a moment and then eye smiled, "Calm down Shin-chan, everything's alright. We won and everyone's safe."

Shin sighed in relief, "That's a relief... But why I can't I remember anything Sensei? Did I... Did I pass out or something?"

"Let's go with or something for now," Kakashi said.

Shin looked confused and then frowned, "Sensei... I think I remember..." His eyes were wide and panicked.

Kakashi became concerned and moved closer to Shin, "Shin, what is it?"

"Someone... Someone messed with the seal Sensei." Shin sucked in a breath, "I can't remember who it was neither can I remember what happened after..."

Kakashi looked contemplative. He looked over at Shin and the boy looked positively miserable. It was obvious that the boy had come to his own conclusions on what happened afterward. Kakashi sighed, he still had his doubts but he had a student to comfort.

"Shin we are not sure about who messed with the seal, but you lost control after that."

Shin gulped and looked down. He was not surprised and Kakashi guessed that the boy had come to the same conclusions.

"At first you only attacked the enemies and you were brutal but effective. Not long after that when we had finished off the rest of the enemies, you attacked Kyoshiro."

Shin's head snapped back up but he didn't speak. Kakashi took in Shin's wide-eyed look and knew the boy was close to panicking.

"He's fine. While you were distracted by Kyoshiro, Uzume and I subdued you."

Shin took a deep breath, "So..."

"You didn't hurt any of your comrades. I mean, Kyoshiro-kun is a little worse for wear but he'll be fine in no time."

Shin nodded relieved.

"And Sasuke and Sakura are fine. They're in the next room and sleeping. After you passed out, Naruto came to us and informed that Gato and Michiko Masaru were dead. We conducted a search party for any surviving members of Gato's gang. We found a few, but that was it. We'll be fine." Kakashi eye smiled at Shin.

Shin tried to smile back but it came out as a grimace. Kakashi stood up to leave, thinking that the boy needed some alone time to deal with things.

At the door, Kakashi turned back to look at Shin and found the boy looking out the window sorrowfully.

The sound of the door closing behind Kakashi had Shin smirking.

He hadn't completely fooled Kakashi, but the man didn't suspect enough to think that he was faking about the gaps in his memory.

He remembered everything of course; he was in full control during that time. The Kyuubi's chakra could only fuel the desires he already had. He would've preferred if Kyoshiro had died but then again that would've made things more difficult for him. Not to mention that techniques Kyoshiro used... He had never heard of such techniques and his Sharingan couldn't copy them. Also, the way the Kyuubi's chakra had retreated when he used those techniques... Kyoshiro was a threat that would have to be eliminated but Shin would have to do that without getting any suspicion on him.

For now, he would have to wait and plan.

* * *

Naruto shivered crumbled onto the forest floor.

This was bad...

He hugged his knees and rocked back and forth. His mind was almost in shambles. That one time that the memories took over and all his carefully wrought control were crumbling down on him. He thought he had more time before everything went overboard.

His mind was no longer under his control. He couldn't sleep without being afraid that he might wake up as someone else.

He closed his eyes tightly. He didn't want to see, he didn't want to see anything. Because every time he looks at someone he is haunted by images of similar looking people. Then he would forget who he was or even who he was speaking with. He can't bear to look at Yumiko without being reminded of Liana and he can't be with Kyoshiro without overlapping his image every time with that of Sharon. But they weren't Liana or Sharon, Liana and Sharon were dead. Uzumaki Naruto never met Liana and Sharon.

Liana was Namikaze Shuichi's lover and he was not Namikaze Shuichi.

Sharon was Namikaze Hikaru's best friend and he was not Namikaze Hikaru either.

But his mind; his memories refused to listen. How can this bloodline turn into such a curse? He didn't want this. He didn't want the memories, the emotions, the pain... He didn't want to question his identity every fucking moment.

He didn't want this... But he couldn't stop it either. He tried meditating to concentrate, but meditation was dangerous. He could at anytime slip into another one of the memories, like what happened during the fight. He couldn't enter his mindscape without having the memories assault him.

Naruto didn't know when he began shaking; he didn't even realize that he was crying. But he did realize when warm arms wrapped around him.

He leaned back into the familiar chest and finally opened his eyes. Everything was white and he sighed in relief because for once since he got his bloodline, he felt like himself. No memories pushed at the back of his mind for control and his focus didn't slip even when he finally relaxed. He knew who he was, he remembered and he knew where he was and who he was with.

"Thank you tou-san..."

Inari hummed a wordless tune and held his kit tightly.

Naruto couldn't stop it when his eyes slid shut as exhaustion overtook him.

"All will be fine Sochi, you have my word..."

Naruto smiled in his sleep.

"Inari-sama" Kyoshiro greeted as he saw his God next to him.

Inari was holding Naruto in his arms and Kyoshiro didn't even try to hide his concern.

"He will be fine Kyoshiro-kun. He just needs his rest. When he wakes up in the morning, tell him that I have sealed away the memories from the Memory Fusion bloodline and it will remain that way until he figures out what to do with them."

Inari gently laid Naruto down on the futon beside Kyoshiro.

"He was so scared..." Kyoshiro whispered to himself as he looked at Naruto's sleeping form.

"Anyone would be afraid at the thought of losing one's sense of self, Kyoshiro."

Kyoshiro nodded ruefully.

"If it was just to seal away the memories, I could've helped him..." Kyoshiro tried not to sound bitter, but he was disappointed that Naruto couldn't accept help from him.

Inari stood in front of the window, silver hair dancing in the moonlight that appeared out of nowhere. There was a gentle smile on his lips,

"Now now Kyoshiro-kun, you should not follow up with that train of thought. You're a thousand-year-old Spirit Guardian. If I didn't know better I would've thought that your attitude was a result of putting you in a child body. But I do know better... After all, Kitsune are such stubborn idiots when in love."

Kyoshiro spluttered out some denials before finally giving up and hanging his head. Inari chuckled.

"Take care of him Kyoshiro. He needs you, all of you."

Inari gave a smile to Yumiko who was standing at the door and he vanished along with the moonlight.

Kyoshiro kept staring at the spot where Inari once stood. Yumiko dragged her futon to Naruto's other side and lay down.

"Go to sleep, Kyo."

Kyoshiro nodded and lay down. He saw Yumiko press a kiss to Naruto's cheek and wrap her arms around him.

"You should tell him."

Kyoshiro wrapped his arms around Naruto from the other side.

"Tell who what?"

Yumiko snorted, "Don't act dumb."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Kyoshiro yawned and closed his eyes.

He did hear Yumiko scoff and mumble about idiots in love before she too closed her eyes.

* * *

 _ **So what do you think? Was it good or bad or worse?**_

 _ **Whatever your opinions are, I would like to hear them.**_

 _ **I am still on the look for a Beta, haven't found one yet so my grammar still may suck. Please forgive any mistakes. And if you find any plot holes or such point them out so I can correct them. I really appreciate all your support.**_

 _ **This chapter was supposed to be the end of the wave arc... at least the fight is over.**_

 _ **I think I am dragging this on too long but so many things happened in Wave that I just couldn't finish it sooner.**_

 _ **Well anyway, tell me your opinions on this chapter plz...**_

 _ **Bye for now.**_


	17. Chapter 17

**I do not own Naruto**

* * *

 **INARI BLESSED**

 **Decisions**

* * *

"Yumi…" Yumiko turned around and smiled at the sleep ruffled Naruto. It was already noon, but Yumiko had let him sleep in since all of them needed the rest.

"Hey, Naru…"

"I am sorry."

Yumiko chuckled, "Don't be an idiot, there's nothing to be sorry for."

"I was quite rude to you yesterday," he says, slightly ashamed.

"I said don't be an idiot, Naru. Yesterday, all of us were pretty messed up…" She trails off solemnly but Naruto shakes his head.

"No, Yumi. I want you to understand that what I said yesterday doesn't mean that I don't trust you with my problems. I trust you; I trust both you and Kyo very much. You are right; yesterday, all of us were pretty messed up. I think that I was a little past 'messed up', though. I was scared and confused and generally losing my mind, that's why I was so… I am sorry, Yumi. I just don't want you to doubt how much I trust you."

Naruto finds himself comforted by Yumiko's warmth as she engulfs him in a hug and speaks softly, "I don't doubt anything, Naru… I don't doubt you…"

They stay like that for some time when Yumiko voices, "Did you speak with Kyo?"

Naruto nods slowly, "He said that he understands… said that I should talk to you though."

Yumiko hums.

"Have you decided what to do with the memories?" Yumiko asks cautiously.

"Not yet… I need more time. It feels so calm without those memories. My mind finally feels like it is my own. When I had them I was so afraid."

Naruto cannot remember any of the memories of his ancestors anymore, but the experience had shaken him up.

"I will tell you both when I decide what to do with them."

Yumiko nods.

It was already afternoon, so they spend the rest of the day resting and regaining their energy.

Naruto had a conversation with Uzume as well. It went fine, he listened to her and it helped. Earlier when he had actually killed all of those people, he didn't give it much thought because he had the memories from many lives of killing innumerable amounts of enemies that it felt like an unimportant detail. But now, looking at it when he had no memory of any previous battles and thinking with a clear mind, the weight of his first kill sank down deep. Uzume's talk helped him a lot with that.

* * *

They spend the following week at Wave.

The shinobi actively helped in building the bridge, as well as rebuilding the village. Naruto helped a lot with healing people who had gotten injured during the fight. Needless to say, Naruto was quite famous among the villagers.

Shin was suspiciously docile during the whole week. He even apologized to Kyoshiro in front of the rest of them. The only ones who weren't fooled by his act were Naruto, Kyoshiro and Yumiko. Shin was a very good actor, but emotion sensing was just too hard to surmount, even with the best acting skills. Yumiko didn't have any emotion sensing abilities, but she could read Naruto and Kyoshiro well enough to know that the two didn't trust Shin and that was enough for her to not trust him as well.

Sasuke was very solemn and withdrawn for two days straight before Naruto dragged him out of his funk. After that, he was doing much better.

Sakura was different. She was silent and withdrawn during the entire week. Her encounter with Sasuke had changed something and all of them hoped that the change was for the better.

At the end of the week, when the bridge was finished, a celebration was held at the village center. The shinobi were the guests of honor. The bridge was named "The Bridge of Heroes" and a plaque was established depicting the heroic actions of the shinobi that saved their village.

The very next day, they left for Leaf village.

Once they reached the village, the jonin dismissed the genin and left to report to the Hokage.

Naruto sat in his room facing the window. The wind ruffled his hair and he thought about his decision once more. He believed it was the right thing to do.

The Uzumaki, Namikaze and Sora are three clans that have been lost, with only the Uzumaki having some relatives wandering about. For the Namikaze and Sora clans, he was the last and only one. The knowledge of three clans so close to becoming a myth. He had thought about this during the week he spent at Wave and the travel back to Konoha.

The purpose of the Namikaze memory transfer was so that their techniques and knowledge would not be lost, but if he rejected the memory, that is exactly what would happen. He also cannot completely accept the memories since he would lose himself. He could only come up with one solution for his predicament.

He stood up and walked outside to tell Yumiko and Kyoshiro about his decision.

* * *

Hiruzen watched the two shinobi in front of him and sighed. How could a simple C-rank mission go so wrong?!

Naruto, apparently, has some strange new jutsu, Shin lost control because someone tampered with his seal, not to mention that Wave would have blown up had it not been for Naruto. What a wonderful C-rank mission indeed!

In the end, he said, "I'll up the rank of the mission into an S-rank. Kakashi, have Naruto check Shin's seal again, just to be sure. Jiraiya is not in the village and won't be able to arrive for another month or so. I will talk to Naruto about his newfound abilities; you don't need to worry Suiren-san, dismissed."

He sighed and leaned back in his chair once the two shinobi left. Retirement sounded like heaven right now.

* * *

"You want to make a record of the memories?" Yumiko asked, a little unsure of what Naruto meant.

Kyoshiro just looked thoughtful.

Naruto nodded at Yumiko, "I would need to have access to the memories again, so I plan on making a seal that could make a record of the memories, giving me access to them anytime without actually having to go through them all again."

Kyoshiro nodded, "That sounds like a nice idea, Naru, but isn't that exactly what the Namikaze's wanted to avoid? They had the memory transfer because they didn't want to have any of their knowledge recorded.

"But this is the only idea I got. It's either I do this or bury those memories forever because there is no way I am going to accept those memories," Naruto spoke imploringly.

Yumiko sighed, "He's right, Kyo. This is better than nothing."

"Alright," Kyoshiro agreed, "So how about we work on this recording seal?"

Naruto and Yumiko nodded.

"Well, what are the three of you up to?" All three of them turned to look at Uzume and Kakashi who were coming towards them.

Yumiko smiles, "No pranks, Kakashi, at least not on you this time."

"I pity the poor fool who will be the target of your evil mischief," Kakashi drawled, not taking his eyes off of the book.

"Well, we're here to get Naruto," Uzume told them, sighing.

"Me?" Naruto asked confused.

"The Hokage wants you to double-check Shin's seal."

Naruto nods at them and turns to Kyoshiro and Yumiko, "I'll be back and then we can start on the seal."

Kakashi and Uzume look at each other in confusion, "What seal, Naru?"

"A recording seal," Naruto says nonchalantly.

"What's it for?" Uzume asks

"Nothing specific, it's just a fun project," Yumiko says.

Uzume narrows her eyes in suspicion but doesn't question her students further.

Naruto leaves with Uzume and Kakashi.

"I'll inform Inari-sama about Naru's decision."

Yumiko nods, "Alright, I'll get the scrolls and references we might need. We'll get some basics done by the time Naru returns."

Both of them walk back inside the compound.

* * *

Shin sat inside his study in the Uchiha compound. Mikoto was in the kitchen and Sasuke was out training with Itachi. Of course, Itachi had offered to train Shin as well but Shin had refused, saying that he needed some rest. The real reason was that he needed to look through some of his father's old notes.

There were detailed scripts about the Kyuubi and the origin of the Sharingan, but none of them gave him any idea on how to bypass the seal and gain access to the Kyuubi's chakra. It seems that getting rid of the suppressing seal was the only option. But if he suggested that, they would be suspicious of him. Shin didn't need their suspicion now. Someone else would have to make the suggestion for him.

Shin was startled out of his thoughts by a knock on the door.

"Shin, come out. Hatake-san is here to see you," Mikoto spoke from the other side of the door.

Shin frowned, why was Hatake here? This may be about the Wave incident… Better not keep him waiting.

When Shin arrived downstairs, he saw that Naruto and Uzume were with Kakashi. Shin was slightly suspicious, but he tried not to show it and put on a confused face, "Sensei?"

Kakashi smiled at Shin, "No need to worry, Shin, we are just here to check your seal to make sure that it's still in good condition."

Shin nodded, he had already guessed that was the case.

"But why is Naruto here?" he asked because he really didn't understand the need for Naruto to be present.

Uzume smirks slightly, "It's because he will be the one checking your seal. He is a seal master."

Shin's eyes widen briefly, a seal master?

"He's the one who designed the seal that we used on you at Wave," Kakashi explains. Shin doesn't express any of the intense anger he feels, but Naruto can feel it nonetheless and his eyes narrow.

Naruto stands up, "We need to move to a private location where you can be a bit more comfortable."

Shin nods and leads them to his bedroom.

"Please take off your shirt, lie down on the bed and concentrate some chakra into your hands," Naruto says blankly. Kakashi and Uzume stood leaning against the wall.

Shin did as he was told and watched as the seal became visible when he used chakra. Naruto looked at the seal critically.

After some time, Naruto nodded at Kakashi and Uzume and stood up, "Done. You can put your shirt back on."

Shin watched as Naruto moved towards Kakashi and Uzume wordlessly.

Then, Naruto spoke, "There is nothing wrong with the Eight Trigram Divination Seal or the Death Reaper seal as you all call, it is fine. Are you sure that someone tampered with the seal, Shin?"

Shin was startled and nodded slowly. Suspicion was already forming on Kakashi and Uzume's minds and Shin cursed at Naruto inside his mind. Naruto smirked when he felt the emotions Shin was projecting.

Naruto continued his conclusions, "The Eight Trigram Beast Confinement Seal is still active and I would suggest keeping it active indefinitely."

Shin looked up and his eyes flashed red briefly but no one noticed, "That's the seal that was used to subdue me, right? Keeping it active means that I won't have any access to the Bijuu chakra."

Naruto nodded, "Given what happened at Wave, we should keep the biju chakra confined for some time so that it settles down a bit. After that, we can remove the confinement seal. Then you can access the Bijuu chakra once more."

"You're saying that I will lose control without the confinement seal?"

"I am saying that it is better to be safe than sorry."

Kakashi coughs, stopping the staredown between the two boys.

"Naruto, I think we should look for the Hokage's opinion on what to do with the seal…" Kakashi says placating.

Naruto sighs, "Yeah, sure, I have to go. Kyoshiro and Yumiko are waiting for me."

Naruto glares at Shin when he senses the emotions of the other at the mention of Kyoshiro. Naruto doesn't say it, but Shin knows the threat in his eyes.

"Yeah, you can go now Naruto," Kakashi tells Naruto and wonders why the boy seems so offended by Shin.

Naruto leaves the room without another word.

Downstairs he finds Mikoto standing near the door, "Mikoto-san."

"Naruto-kun," Mikoto smiles at him and Naruto suddenly remembers the scroll that Mikoto had given him just before he left for Wave. The scroll is still safely tucked away inside his storage seal, but with all that had happened Naruto had entirely forgotten about it.

"We have to talk…"

* * *

When Naruto returns to the Uzumaki compound, it's almost noon and Mikoto is with him. Yumiko and Kyoshiro are both surprised by Mikoto's presence, but what bothers them, even more, is the carefully crafted blank look on Naruto's face. Kyoshiro can feel the turmoil the blond is going through.

Yumiko steps back in surprise when she sees the person following behind Mikoto and Naruto, "Father?"

Hyuga Hoseki steps forward with a nervous frown, but the nervousness was only detectable to those with the capacity for emotion sensing

"What's the meaning of this, Naruto?" Yumiko asks. She tries to hide the quiver in her voice. The man who had kicked her out of her clan was now standing before her and all she wanted was one smile from him. God, how she wished she could hate him!

Naruto opens his mouth to speak, but Hoseki stops him, "Uzumaki-kun, I would like to be the one to tell her, please."

Naruto pauses then nods, "Yumi, I want you to listen to him before you come to any conclusions. Give him a chance to speak."

Yumiko blinks in surprise but then nods. Because, while she might resent this man, she trusts Naruto.

"Can we talk in private?" Hoseki asks Yumiko and Naruto at the same time.

Naruto looks at Yumiko waiting for her reply.

"I… yes, it's fine," Yumiko mumbles.

Naruto just nods. Kyoshiro is staring at the whole interaction with narrowed eyes, Mikoto standing just behind him.

Mikoto, Kyoshiro, and Naruto left Yumiko and Hoseki in the guest room and activate a privacy seal.

"Naru?"

Naruto looks at Kyoshiro who appears confused and sighs.

"I assume the man in there is Hyuga Hoseki, Yumiko's father," Kyoshiro states and Naruto nods at him.

"I know that all of you, including Yumiko, believed that Hoseki banished Yumiko from the clan because she didn't have the bloodline. But he had his reason for what he did."

Kyoshiro looks at Mikoto inquiringly, "And what is the reason he had for abandoning his own daughter?"

"He didn't abandon her… He was protecting her."

* * *

"I am sorry that I never got to watch you grow up… You have become a fine kunoichi, and I would've been proud to say that you're my daughter. Alas, I no longer have the right to do that…"

Yumiko doesn't speak but her eyes become wet and she looks down to avoid letting him see that. Why was he talking to her now of all times? It's been nine years since she had been kicked out of the Hyuga clan. Nine years since she had even caught a glimpse of him. Now, why was he suddenly interested in her?

"I don't expect you to forgive me, but I want you to know the truth. I never hated you, Yumiko, and I never once thought of you as a disgrace. I was proud of you."

"Liar!" Yumiko shouted, "You're lying! You always hated me… You never loved me or mom! I heard rumors that you loved someone else and you never wanted to marry mother. You hated her because she wasn't the woman you loved and you hated me because I was not the child you wanted. You never gave mom a chance, even though she had been forced into marrying you just like you were. Now, you're here saying… I don't want to hear this!"

Hoseki looked regretful at the first part, but surprised and furious at the last part.

"Yumiko… Who told you that?"

Yumiko stepped back, surprised, "Why on earth does that matter to you?"

Hoseki took a deep breath, but he still looked angry, "You think that woman that you call 'mother' was the innocent in all this? I don't blame you since no one ever told you the truth… But Hyuga Misaki was not a woman, she was a monster!"

Yumiko had no clear memories of her mother, only stories she had heard from her aunt. Hyuga Misaki was a very gentle, loving and kind woman. Her only mistake had been falling in love with the man who had married her.

"How dare you talk about mother like that?" Yumiko asked angrily.

"She's not your mother!"

Yumiko froze.

Hoseki looked at his daughter sadly, "She's not your mother…"

* * *

"Hoseki and I were in a team with your father," Mikoto says looking at Naruto. "Even though he acted like a stuck-up prick in front of other people, he was a different man altogether when he was with us. Then, that idiot managed to go and fall in love with my cousin, Uchiha Akayuri, the daughter of the clan head's younger brother. She used to work at the hospital as a medic and that's how both of them met. It was some sort of instant connection," Mikoto stares sadly ahead.

Kyoshiro looked at Naruto and he had a feeling he knew where this story was heading.

Mikoto huffed, "Both of those idiots managed to keep it a secret from Minato and me for a whole three years before we found out. By that time, we had become chunin and had gone separate ways but still remained close friends. It was at that time, I met Kushina. I don't know how they did it but they managed to keep their respective clans unaware of their relationship. The Uchiha and Hyuga clans had a strong rivalry at that time, and them finding out that a Hyuga clan branch family member was in love with the Uchiha clan head's niece would have been a disaster."

"But they did find out, didn't they?" Kyoshiro asks knowingly.

"Yes," Mikoto looked away sadly, "they found out... and it was a disaster."

"There was a Hyuga from the main branch that had an unhealthy obsession with Hoseki. We used to tease him about it a lot. I have no idea how she found out but once she did…"

* * *

"I loved Akayuri, and she returned my feelings wholeheartedly. We knew that our clans would never approve and tried to hide the relationship for as long as possible, but even we knew that it wouldn't last long. They would find out eventually. That woman," Hoseki spat, "Misaki, she was the one who somehow found out about our relationship and she tried to blackmail me into marrying her. I didn't agree but, when you're in the Hyuga branch family, choices aren't often given to you. They forced me to marry her when she… One day she just came and told me she was pregnant with my child… a kid that wasn't even mine. I knew that, but her father had to save face and I paid the price."

Yumiko looked horrified at the pain in Hoseki's eyes.

"That was around the time that I found out Akayuri was also pregnant. I was so happy and scared when Yuri told me, and then Misaki happened. Yuri was treated like trash once her clan found out that she was pregnant, but she never told anyone that I was the father. I had no idea what to do at all! We managed to keep everything together until the day of the birth. It was a miracle, really, both of them giving birth at the same time."

Hoseki paused unable to continue.

* * *

"Akayuri gave birth to a healthy baby girl. I still remember how happy she was when she saw their daughter… before she… passed."

Naruto squeezed Mikoto's hand comfortingly. Mikoto couldn't get Akayuri out of her head.

"Misaki's was stillborn. We and Akemi, the doctor that took care of Misaki, didn't see any other option… Yumiko was born with all the classic Hyuga features and anyone who looked at her could tell that she was a Hyuga, but we couldn't let that happen. So, we switched the babies. We convinced Akemi to do it. If the Uchiha clan found out that Akayuri had a kid with a Hyuga, they would've killed Yumiko or worse, if they found out about Yumiko's eyes…"

"Her eyes?" Kyoshiro asked, confused.

Mikoto smiles ruefully, "The reason Yumiko never awoke her bloodline was because of a seal placed on her. Minato and Kushina designed and created it together. Yumiko had her bloodline from the moment she was born… She opened her eyes and we saw something new; Yumiko had a dojutsu that mixed the Sharingan and the Byakugan. We couldn't let the Uchiha or the Hyuga know about it. The Uchiha would use her as a weapon and try to recreate the dojutsu, and the Hyuga would undoubtedly do the same."

"So, you had to seal the bloodline?" Kyoshiro asks.

Naruto, who had been silent during the entire conversation, speaks up, "My mom and dad designed the bloodline suppression seal for Yumiko…?"

"That explains why no one ever figured it out…" Kyoshiro mumbles.

* * *

Yumiko stared at her father dumbfounded and tried to process all that she had just been told. The mother she had always hear about was not even her real mother, but a despicable bitch who forced her father into marrying her; the woman who bore her, an Uchiha, was her father's secret lover who died during childbirth. Also, she had a combination of Sharingan and Byakugan that had been sealed away to keep her safe, something Naruto's parents, Akemi-nee and Mikoto-san knew about.

She fingered the back of her neck, near her hairline, where the seal was hidden. She slumped back in her seat tiredly. Her father looked at her with guilt.

He kept his head down and Yumiko realized that she had never seen him display such emotions before. Back when she still used to live in the Hyuuga compound, he was always tense and wary; each move calculated to never make a mistake.

Hoseki takes a deep breath and continues, "I made sure that Misaki never found out about the baby exchange. That bitch was so overjoyed that Akayuri and 'her' child died. Misaki managed to guess that Akayuri carried my child and she took pleasure in every opportunity to taunt me about how I 'lost my love and my child'," Hoseki clenched his fist in anger, "She had become resentful that, even after marriage, I only had eyes for Akayuri and reveled in my suffering. Misaki always taunted me with something else as well… She always brought up how I was forced to father a child that wasn't 'mine'."

Hoseki chuckles at the irony of the situation, but it was tinged with a heavy sadness.

"I moped around and snapped like everyone expected me to. I mourned Akayuri and I thanked God that you had made it. I acted as if I hated you because I was afraid that Misaki or her sister, your 'aunt', might figure things out. Two years later, when Misaki died, I was so relieved and I thought that maybe I could take care of you more since I would be your sole guardian. But Misaki's sister was still alive and she took you in, claiming that I hated you and I had no choice but to accept."

"Then, they started talking about placing the caged bird seal on you and I couldn't allow it. Akemi argued in my place that, since you had 'no dojutsu', the seal was unnecessary but they were adamant, so I suggested banishing you because I thought that would be a whole lot better than being caged… I am sorry if I hurt you when I acted that way, but I am not sorry that I did it because looking at you now, I know that I made the right decision."

Yumiko let the tears fall freely, and the silent sobs shook her frame. Her father looked unsure of what to do and remained where he was.

"I… I need time… to think about all of this… Please leave…"

Hoseki nods as he stands up, "Yumiko, I am not asking for your forgiveness, but I want you to know that I have always and will always love you. If you want to, I am sure that Uzumaki-kun will be able to remove off the Bloodline suppression seal. Since the Uchiha are gone and you're officially a member of the Uzumaki clan now, you will be safe, but others would be after you if they ever discover the dojutsu and I want you to be safe," He paused, letting his eyes soak up the sight of his daughter, "Take care of yourself…"

He turned around and exited the room, leaving Yumiko alone with her thoughts. He looked at her one more time before he crossed the threshold.

Yumiko stared at the ceiling and wondered what to do.

* * *

Three faces looked at Hoseki inquiringly as he stepped outside.

"How did she take it?" Naruto asked softly.

"She… She took it well, but she needs time."

Mikoto nods, "That is understandable."

Mikoto and Hoseki left the house after telling the younger nin to contact them if the need arose and promising to visit again.

Kyoshiro watched as the two of them left, "Well, come on then, we have a friend to comfort."

* * *

Shin stood in front of the village council looking at them blankly.

They were discussing what happened in Wave. "If there are enemies out there that could mess with a jinchuuriki seal, then perhaps we should be more careful and restrict the boy to remaining inside the village," some idiot said.

"Did you forget that Uzumaki was attacked while he was inside the village?"

Someone else scoffed. Shin silently stored all the information that they were so carelessly spilling because they thought he was some naïve kid. He knew that Naruto had been the jinchuuriki before him, but he had never been privy to the circumstances that led to the demon's resealing.

"Hatake-san, your report says that the person who attacked you in Wave was the same person that attacked Uzumaki-kun?"

Kakashi nods, "His name was Michiko Masaru and he was an A rank shinobi and seal master."

"And Uzumaki-kun killed him?"

Uzume nods. "How? You have not described that in the report… Just that he used clan techniques… How exactly did he kill an A rank shinobi?"

"If the reports say that he used clan techniques, then that means he has the right to deny you knowledge of what techniques he used," It was Hyuuga Hiashi that countered the civilian who had asked the question.

The civilian council member sputtered, "But Hiashi-sama, an eleven-year-old genin has defeated an A-rank nin. It would be beneficial for the village that we know what techniques he used."

"By Konoha laws, clan members have the right to keep clan techniques and information to themselves, unless they directly threaten the village. You do know that right?" Yamanaka Inoichi interrupts.

"We're going off topic. Since it is already stated that this Michiko Masaru is dead, meaning he is no longer a threat. Uchiha-kun already said that his seal had been tampered with, so his lack of control should be excused. And here we have Uzumaki Naruto's report on the status of the seal. The seal is functioning as well as it had been, but there is now an additional seal completely cutting off the bijuu chakra…"

Shin looked up when the council discussed the necessity of the additional seal. In the end, the Hokage spoke, "Since you were not under your own volition when you attacked Kazama Kyoshiro, you're exempt from any kind of punishment. But... we're heeding the advice given by Naruto-kun and the suppressing seal will stay on for one month."

Shin cursed internally but, externally, he thanked the Hokage and left the council chambers.

He calmed himself down as he walked to the compound. So... he won't be able to use the bijuu chakra for another month. Trying to go against the Hokage's order would be inadvisable and he couldn't risk it. For now, he would have to wait.

* * *

Itachi sat with his mother and little brother, Sasuke, at the dining table.

"Nii-san, is something bothering you?" Sasuke asked Itachi, confused by the sudden gloomy aura that surrounded him since he came back from the Hokage's tower.

"Nothing at all, Otouto… Why would you ask that?" Itachi said as he savored his mother's cooking, while Mikoto sat staring at the two silently.

Sasuke shrugs and continues eating.

Itachi's eyes darts from his mother to his brother, intently studying their features.

"Itachi, I need to speak with you alone?" Mikoto says once they finish the meal. Sasuke watches as Mikoto and Itachi retreat into Itachi's room.

"You have a mission," Mikoto says softly.

Itachi knows that it is not a question but a statement, so he doesn't say anything.

"How long will you be gone?" Mikoto asks. Itachi stays silent for a long time before he answers.

"Indefinitely… Until the Hokage calls me back." His voice is just as soft and Mikoto bites her lip. She knew that look she saw in Itachi's eyes; they very same look she had when going on a mission uncertain whether they would ever return. Looking at her precious ones and wondering if this might be the last time she sees them. She knows that look all too well.

"But you will try to come back right?"

Itachi doesn't answer and Mikoto asks again, louder this time, "Itachi, you will come back to us, right?"

Itachi looks at the ground and the unsure emotions in his eyes troubles Mikoto; "It is doubtful…"

Then, when he sees the desperate pleading in Mikoto's eyes, he adds hastily; "But I promise that I will try, mother. I will try my best to come back to you and Sasuke." He doesn't say Shin, but they both know that Mikoto is the only one in the family that even tries to think of Shin as family anymore.

"What should I tell Sasuke?"

Itachi looks away, "You won't have to say anything…"

Mikoto frowns at Itachi's cryptic words and something like dread coils inside her, "What do you mean by that, Itachi?"

Itachi wants to tell her, to at least spare her the pain the news will cause. He knows deep down that his mother will believe in him and would trust him, but there is a part of him that fears that once he leaves tomorrow, there won't be a family waiting for him to come back.

"What do you mean by that, Itachi?" Mikoto asks pleadingly.

"It's… It's an undercover mission… I have to…" Itachi stops, unsure on whether or not to continue. But Mikoto was once an elite jounin and she connects the dots easily.

"You're going to become a missing-nin…"

There is a pain in her voice, but she knows that she can't stop him and he knows she wouldn't try to.

"I really have to thank Naruto for these seals…"

Both Itachi and Mikoto turned their head to the side so fast, he was surprised they didn't get whiplash.

"Sasuke!" Mikoto cried out angrily.

Sasuke shrugs, "So what, he was going to go off on his mission and you were willing to let me believe that he actually betrayed the village?"

His stance is casual, but the accusation lingered in his words.

"Sasuke, I have to go on this mission-"

"And I am not stopping you," Sasuke says, surprising his brother, "It's your duty to the village and I don't want to force you to choose between me and your duty. Knowing you, that choice would only hurt me…"

Itachi almost flinches at the words.

"But it doesn't matter. You can go off and become a missing-nin, complete your mission and I won't bother telling you to stay, but as mother asked, you should come back to us, to your family. I don't want you to just try; I want you to come back."

Itachi gazes at his brother, wondering when the boy had become so mature.

"I will Sasuke, I will…" He utters.

"Good," Sasuke launches himself at his brother. Itachi catches his brother as he is engulfed in a bear hug. Mikoto hugs him from the other side.

He will come back, not for the village but for his family.


	18. Chapter 18

**Inari Blessed: chapter 18**

 **The Sacred Seven**

Naruto opened his eyes breathing rapidly from the nightmare.

He rubbed his forehead and tried to remember the exact theme of the nightmare but his memories scattered like ashes in the wind. He shivered when he felt a sense of forboding settle over him.

He wondered what was going on? Why he felt like something was going to happen... Only one he knew would have answers to that question is Inari but he had been rarely present with them these days.

"What is this feeling father?" He asked out loud wishing that Inari was there with him, "What is waiting for me in the unknown?"

 _Your destiny..._

Naruto tensed and sharply looked around but no one else is in the room with him.

The wind swept past him gently and he shivered again.

 _Your destiny..._

Naruto closed his eyes. The feeling of uneasiness never left him.

* * *

Inari stood in front of the tree of fate. Different paths created and destroyed with every choice one would make.

He closed his eyes when he felt his child's longing for his comfort.

 _What is this feeling father?... What is waiting for me in the unknown?_

Inari smiled softly, "Your destiny..."

His smile turned sad as he whispered again, "your destiny..."

* * *

"Hey."

Naruto looked up from his scroll with a smile.

"Hello Sasuke."

Sasuke looked at Kyoshiro and Uzume sparring at the other side of the training ground.

"Where is Yumiko?"

"She's taking some time off to deal with some stuff."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that but didn't question it any further.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have training with your team?"

Sasuke sighed and sat down beside Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei let us go early because he had to go see the Hokage."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully, "And what else is going on? You are very worried about something."

Sasuke sighed again, no matter how good his poker face was Naruto and Kyoshiro could always tell what he was feeling. Of course, Sasuke had no idea about their emotion sensing abilities.

"I can't tell you."

Naruto simply nodded. Sasuke had purposefully sought out Naruto because being with the blonde always managed to calm him down and it also helped that Naruto never pried.

"So you want to join us for lunch?"

"Kyoshiro and Uzume will be done soon..."

Sasuke nodded at that. So Naruto smiled and went back to his scroll.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked curiously.

Naruto was still concentrated on the scroll as he said, "working on a new seal..."

"What's it for?"

"A lot of things... Mental projection, memory suppression, mental protection, memory recording..."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "all of this with one seal? Are you trying to become a Yamanaka or something?"

Naruto chuckled, "no... This is for something else."

"Naru, you done? Hey Sasuke" Kyoshiro said as he walked up to them.

"Almost done just some problems."

"Hey Kyoshiro."

Uzume joined them, "So ready for lunch? Will you be joining us Sasuke?"

"If you don't mind," Sasuke said causing her to chuckle.

"Let's go. Yumiko will join us there."  
_

They were having lunch at Yakinique, the barbeque place; Uzume's choice today.

Yumiko sat silently in the corner seat. Even though she had been polite and friendly Sasuke could see that she was distracted. Sasuke himself was distracted because he was thinking about Itachi.

It has been a week since he last saw his brother. So far there was no news about Itachi.

He wondered what was bothering her before shaking his head. It was not his place to ask since Naruto was clearly indicating to give her some privacy.

Lunch was not as lively as usual. Sasuke occasionally joined them for dinner so that he could avoid his own teammates and because he genuinely liked the four of them.

Sasuke frowned when he saw Kyoshiro's gaze focused on someone standing behind him. Sasuke tensed before turning to look at who it was.

It was man and by the looks of his eyes, a Hyuuga.

He gave a small nod of acknowledgement to all of them, "Good afternoon everyone..."

The man looked nervous but out of the corner of his eyes be saw Naruto giving the man an encouraging smile.

"Good afternoon to you too Hoseki-san. Here for lunch?" Kyoshiro asked with a friendly smile.

Sasuke noted that Yumiko was not looking at the man while Uzume had her eyes narrowed suspiciously at her genin and the man.

Hoseki shook his head, "I was just passing by when I saw you inside and I thought to come talk to you..."

"Would you like to join us for lunch then Hoseki-san?" Naruto asked politely.

"I..." the man began unsure and Sasuke noticed how his eyes strayed to Yumiko sadly.

Sasuke frowned not understanding but then he saw Yumiko. She was looking at the man with something akin to determination. She took a deep breath and just as Hoseki was about to decline she said,

"Please. I would like it if you join us for lunch, father."

Sasuke gaped. Sasuke briefly noted that Uzume's eyes had widened just like his.

 _Father? She's a Hyuuga? I thought she was an orphan..._

Now when he paid attention to her features he had to admit that she did look like a Hyuuga. The only thing that would dismiss the notion was the fact that her eyes though a llightbshade of lavender, were not the pupil less eyes of the Hyuuga.

It was like some weight had been lifted off of Hoseki's shoulders as he relaxed and smiled happily.

"Thank you..." He whispered.

After that lunch was silent except for the light conversation between Yumiko and Hoseki. Everyone kept their breath like they didn't want to interrupt the duo.

It wasn't bad per say, just awkward for Uzume and Sasuke. Naruto and Kyoshiro seemed pretty happy with the situation.

Outside the restaurant the Hyuuga elder watched Hoseki interact with his exiled daughter and narrowed his eyes. It seemed that some discipline would have to be enacted. After all they can't have the branch member doing something foolish out of sympathy for a useless daughter.

"How did this happen?" Uzume asked Naruto and Kyoshiro.

Sasuke too was looking at them curiously.

After lunch Hoseki had asked Yumiko to take a walk with him and the both of them had left chatting happily.

Naruto and Kyoshiro exchanged a quick glance before Naruto answered, "I met him through aunt Mikoto apparently she and Hoseki-san were teammates. She asked Yumiko to give him a second chance. Said that he wanted to try and things right. Last day Hoseki-san talked to Yumiko and she said she needed time to think. Today she accepted his apologies."

Uzume raised an eyebrow, "That simple? Naruto..."

Naruto shook his head, "anymore and you would have to ask her."

Uzume sighed, "Alright... I am not going to ask. I am fine with it as long as she's happy."

Naruto and Kyoshiro both smiled at that.

"Yumiko's a Hyuuga?" Sasuke finally asked.

Naruto shook his head, "No she was exiled from that clan when she was little because she didn't have their bloodline. Yumiko and her father didn't have a great relationship and now they're trying to fix that."

Sasuke frowned, "can that man be trusted?"

Naruto smiled, "Yeah don't worry he won't hurt Yumiko."

Sasuke's frown just deepened but he didn't ask any further.

Uzume spoke up, "Since Yumiko won't be coming back and we are short one member, do you want to join us for our spars Sasuke?"

Sasuke shrugged. It was not like he had any other plans.

After the spar Naruto and Kyoshiro was about to leave when they noticed Sasuke looking a little forlorn.

Kyoshiro nudged Naruto and Naruto shook his head. Besides sensing the weight of Sasuke's anxiety and sadness he had no idea why.

Kyoshiro sighs as he sees Sasuke walk to wards the Uchiha compound.

It's getting a little late and Yumiko should be back home by now. One of them needed to check on her to make sure that everything went well with her father even if they are 99% sure that it did. It never hurt to double check.

And Naruto's better at the he whole silent comfort thing when it comes to Sasuke. Honestly Kyoshiro would be a lot jealous if he couldn't feel that the abundance of love that Sasuke had for Naruto was nothing but friendly and brotherly. There might have been a small crush at first on Sasuke's part but that long since died out to become their bond.

Even knowing that Sasuke wouldn't be interested in the blond like that, Kyoshiro feels jealous sometimes.

Kyoshiro sighs feeling like an old man(or Kitsune spirit in his case) in a child's body (which he is) and in love with a boy(which is also true).

Naruto looks a little amused at Kyoshiro's by play of emotions and gives him a brief look before taking off after Sasuke when Kyoshiro nods.

"Hey Sasuke wait up..."

Kyoshiro smiles. Now he had to go and check on Yumiko.

* * *

"Naruto?"

Naruto smiled at Sasuke, "It's been a while since I've seen Aunt Mikoto. So I thought I would pay a visit tonight."

Sasuke shrugs and doesn't say anything because he has a pretty good idea what Naruto is doing.

He tries to hide a smile as Naruto starts talking about training and pranks and the latest incidents in his life. Sasuke knows that he is trying to distract him from his funk and it is working.

Oddly Naruto is great at conversations and knows very well how to steer clear of sensitive areas even if he isn't all that subtle with his subject change.

Sasuke wonders if it some kind of bloodline because he knows for sure that no one is that good at reading people to know which subject they want to avoid. Most of the time Naruto isn't even looking at his face to check his reactions or anything.

It's not just him either. Naruto does that with most people. So does Kyoshiro so maybe it is a bloodline.

"What are you so curious about?"

Naruto asks looking at home curiously.

 _See this is what I am talking about_ , Sasuke thinks, _he wasn't even looking at my face and he just knows that I am curious._

He's about to ask Naruto how he does it when Naruto goes rigid.

Sasuke tensed because the look on Naruto's face is cautious and worried.

There are standing right outside the gates and Sasuke's mind flashes back to a similar situation almost five years ago. He remembers the way Itachi and Shisui tensed just like this standing outside the clan compound.

He lost all but the three of his family that night. Sasuke doesn't know why he panics but he's suddenly remembering the Hyuuga doctor that came out to say that Shisui was gone and he is almost shaking.

Naruto glanced at him. His tense posture relaxing under a false calm demeanor that even Sasuke can see through and places a hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke steadies himself. A little embarrassed by his reaction but more than embarrassment he felt shaken. Maybe Itachi's impending mission was affecting him more than he thought.

Naruto is still tense as they move towards the compound. Sasuke tries to ask what's wrong but Naruto looks just confused like even he doesn't understand the reaction.

They step inside the Uchiha home and it's silent and dark. Which is more than a little ominous because, where is Mikoto?

"Mother..." Sasuke calls slightly worried.

Sasuke feels Naruto tense once again beside and Sasuke too tenses.

Sasuke activates his sharingan. But even that didn't help him dodge the strike that sends him crashing into a wall.

"Shit! Sasu-"

Sasuke didn't hear Naruto finish that sentence and when he raised his head it was to see Itachi with his sword sticking out of Naruto's stomach.

"Nii-san..." Sasuke whispered horrified but the Naruto that Itachi had stabbed turned into a log and Itachi ducked under a kick from behind while grabbing hold of the outstretched leg only for the blonde to disappear again in a displacement technique.

Itachi turned to Sasuke and Sasuke saw the crazed look in his eyes.

"Nii-san!" He cried out not understanding what was happening... Did this have anything to do with his mission?

But why would Itachi attack Naruto?

"Amaterasu,"

Sasuke's eyes widened but he couldn't move, frozen as he was, as he watched the flames converging in on Naruto.

But Naruto used a shunshin to get out of it only for Itachi to grab him by the neck as he appeared exactly where Naruto appeared by the shunshin.

"Tsukuyomi"

Naruto's eyes became blank just before he began screaming.

Scream was not enough to define the inhuman sounds that Naruto let out.

Sasuke watched too numb to react as Itachi stepped away and let the blond boy crumble to the ground like a doll.

"Nii-san... Why?"

"Because he was in my way."

Itachi was bleeding, Sasuke noticed it only then. There was blood dripping out of his eyes were the Mangekyo spun lazily.

"Move Sasuke. You are not my target... Not tonight."

Itachi's eyes flickered up towards the stairs and Sasuke followed his eyes to see his other sibling standing there.

Shin was standing there eyes wide with bemusement and wariness. He was cautious and didn't make any moves toward them but it didn't help as Itachi disappeared.

Only Sasuke saw Itachi appear behind Shin. Shin had no time or chance to turn around before three blades were coming out through his front; on the neck, torso and abdomen... and then two more were added; one through each shoulder.

Sasuke didn't move as he watched his twin become a living pincushion.

Itachi... Itachi was smiling. Not the gentle smile his big brother reserved only for him but this was a deranged, psychotic grin that scared Sasuke.

"What's going on here? It-Itachi? What are you doing?"

Uzume had appeared inside the Uchiha home along with Kakashi.

Then Kakashi saw Naruto and his visible eye widened.

"Naru!" He whispered then turned back to the psychotic Uchiha,  
"What did you do?"

Itachi grinned and let shin's body fall down the stairs.  
But before he could hit the bottom Uzume grabbed him and came back to stand infront of her downed student.

Carrying both injured genin Uzume gave a nod to Kakashi. It was clear that she was taking away the two of them for medical care but Itachi wouldn't have any of it.

Uzume had to curse as she dodged a strike from the Uchiha but had to let go of the injured children.

Kakashi appeared behind Itachi ready to strike him down.

But Itachi turned out to be a clone.

Kakashi and Uzume tensed waiting for him to show himself.

"Kakashi-sensei, Naruto and shin!"

Sasuke screamed.

Kakashi's eye widened before he and Uzume turned to face where the two genin lied but there was no one there now.

* * *

Toby waited for his little puppet to arrive.

Seriously the village was lacking in security.

 _So much for the village you died to save sensei..._

Itachi arrived just as predicted. However the two boys hanging on his shoulders was unexpected.

Toby blinked, "what did you bring me, Ita-chan?"

Itachi blinks slowly at Toby's cheerful persona before he smiles wide and happy. For anyone who had known Itachi before that smile would be disturbing.

Itachi was a hardened shinobi, with a track record and kill count so long that he even wondered why he fought all this while, but now here he was, the famous Itachi Uchiha smiling like an innocent child.

That gullible look didn't belong on any shinobi's face much less Itachi's.

Toby smirked underneath his mask.

When the two unconscious boys were dropped on the ground Toby took the time to observe them.

The current and previous Kyuubi jinchuurikis. One an Uchiha who also happens to be Toby's distant cousin much like Itachi and the other... The other the legacy of the man he once saw as a father then hated.

Toby was intrigued, "Thank you Ita-chan, but why did you bring them to me?"

Itachi is still smiling and then shrugs like he has no idea why he did it. Toby suppresses a sigh, sure he had Itachi under his control right now but Itachi's most revered weapon, that ingenious mind of his was now out of his reach.

It would've been much easier if Itachi had joined him willingly, but no, the Third's plan was to send Itachi to him as a spy.

Ha, as if he wouldn't figure it out.

So instead he took Itachi and he destroyed him. It was a forbidden technique courtesy of the snake sannin and it worked like a charm.

After all scrambling a shinobi's mind and not just any shinobi's Itachi's; the strongest of the Uchiha in Konoha even when his clan was alive, was by no means an easy feat and Toby had to applaud the snake nin on this master piece.

The jutsu took a lot out of him.

The only fact that helped him was that Itachi had no idea about the trap that had been laid when Toby approached him.

Now Itachi was his to do as he wishes.

Toby chuckled.

Itachi was looking a little dazed now. He left him staring at the sky as he turned to look at the boys. The whole point of sending Itachi on a rampage on the village was to make a point. It shows Sarutobi how much of a fool he had been to send Itachi to him.

The Kyuubi jinchuuriki would have to wait. He would deal with him later. But...

Naruto Uzumaki, he would have to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Ever since that fight with those kids in the forest his sharingan had been acting wierd. Using his Mangekyo was becoming harder each day.

Toby was almost sure that the blonde had something to do with it.

He knelt down and grabbed the boys chin to look at his eyes. Dull blue eyes stared unseeing at him and Toby activated his Mangekyo sharingan.

"Tsukuyomi huh Ita-chan? Is he having fun in there?" Toby giggled causing Itachi to smile.

It was wierd seeing the Uchiha smiling and painful to see the proud shinobi so utterly... destroyed.

"Leave the jinchuuriki back in the village it is not time for his capture yet. I will deal with this one."

Itachi looks at him curiously for a moment before shrugging and leaping away taking Shin with him.

"Oh and Ita-chan has some fun with him... Show them that they are weak enough to let their jinchuuriki get kidnapped and tortured inside their own village... Maybe it wouldn't be much different from how they treated Naruto-kun here..." Toby giggles and adds thoughtfully, "while you are at it, take his eyes as well."

Toby is caressing Naruto's cheek softly as he says the last line and then slaps the boy so hard that his cheeks stain red.

Naruto doesn't react.

Itachi didn't understand half of it but perked up at the thought of torture and disappeared with his younger brother in hand.

Once Itachi is gone Toby chuckled which turns slowly into deranged cackle.

"It is fitting that you meet your end here at the very place that you were born."

Toby had not gone from the village. And while the whole village panicked on finding their missing jinchuuriki and Uzumaki heir Toby stayed in the village. The cave that Kushina gave birth at.

 _Ah... So nostalgic!_

Before he ends the boy he wants to make him suffer. He would leave his mind shattered beyond any repair.

"Tsukuyomi," and he's inside Naruto's mind and inside the illusion that Itachi had created and was still going on.

 _Tim_ e _for some fun..._


End file.
